All seven students from Sahara Anathalaya Parivar, popularly known as Balgram orphanage, in Beed — one of the worst drought-hit districts in Maharashtra — cleared their secondary school certificate (SSC) and higher secondary certificate (HSC) examinations this year.
Five students appeared for SSC examinations, while two appeared for the HSC examinations.
With 73% in the SSC examination, Dipali Vade, 16, is the top scorer from the orphanage.
Other four students who cleared their Class 10 examinations are Swati Gaikwad, 16, who secured 63.80%; Gaurav Malikar, who scored 63.40%; Dyaneshwari Mali, who secured 60% and Priyanka Lahane, who secured 53.20% marks.
Shubham Malikar, 18, secured 69.88% in the HSC examination, while Abhishek Rawas, 18, secured 67.76% marks. Rawas, who wants to join the Indian Army, has been living at the orphanage since the past five years. He was three when his parents died.
Gaikwad, who aspires to join the police services and serve the society one day, has been living at the orphanage since the past one year. She earlier lived at Bori Sawant village in Hingoli district and moved to the orphanage after her mother succumbed to HIV infection. Her father had died ten years ago when she was six.
“We have no problem here at the orphanage except for water shortage. Saving water is our priority. For instance, we eat in plates made up of dry leaves or paper so that we do not have to wash them,” Gaikwad said.
{{/usCountry}}“We have no problem here at the orphanage except for water shortage. Saving water is our priority. For instance, we eat in plates made up of dry leaves or paper so that we do not have to wash them,” Gaikwad said.
{{/usCountry}}Gaurav, who has been living at the orphanage since 2014, said, “I want to become an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer.” Gaurav’s mother died of blood cancer in 2014 after which he was shifted to Balgram orphanage. His father, who worked as a farm labourer, committed suicide two years ago.
Balgram orphanage, which houses 85 children, was founded by Santosh Garje in 2004. According to Garje, the motive behind opening an orphanage was to provide shelter and education to the district’s destitute children and orphans.
The campus is situated on a three-acre plot with accommodation facilities, school premises and an orchard of 100 fruit trees.
“The orphanage gets a water tanker [10,500 litres] from the district administration every four days, which becomes very difficult for us. We have total 100 people and we need 8,000 litres of water everyday,” said Garje.