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All in the family: Mother and son clear matric exam in Odisha
Tapai’s husband Ramesh Pradhan, a farmer, was the only matriculate in the family till Monday. Ramesh said he and his wife will now enrol in a local college for further education along with their son.
Tapai Pradhan flunked her first electoral test last year when she contested for the post of panchayat samiti member in Jaleswar block of Odisha’s coastal Balasore district during the three-tier polls to the rural body.
The 33-year-old housewife was grinning from ears to ears after she cleared a significant test of her life - the matriculation or Class 10 board examination conducted by Odisha State Open School - on Monday, 20 years after she dropped out of school.
The mother’s joy, in fact, was doubled as her 16-year-old son Bikash also cleared the Class 10 exam as a regular student.
“I dropped out in Class 8 as studies did not interest me. Besides, the financial condition in my parental home was not good,” said Tapai.
“After my marriage in 2001, my husband kept on pestering me to complete my education. Though I was reluctant, two years ago I thought hard about it and decided to enrol in the study centre of State Open School,” she added.
Tapai’s son Bikash, who got the same B2 grade as his mother, said he was inspired by her.
“I started focussing more on my studies after my mother enrolled in school last year,” said Bikash.
Tapai’s husband Ramesh Khatua, a farmer, was the only matriculate in the family till Monday. Ramesh said he and his wife will now enrol in a local college for further education along with their son.
“Our aim is to complete graduation. Let no one tell us that we are uneducated,” said Pradhan.
The vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Balasore unit and his son also cleared the matric exam long after they stopped going to school. Arun Kumar Bej, 58, scored more than 60% marks in the exam and his 30-year-old son Kumar Biswajit Bej also got 342 marks.
