4 decades after he dropped out of school, Odisha MLA appears for Class X Boards

Bhubaneswar: More than four decades after he dropped out of school over family compulsions, 57-year-old BJD MLA Angad Kanhar from Odisha’s Kandhamal district on Friday morning walked into a high school to write his Class X board examination like hundreds of other students

Published on: Apr 29, 2022, 23:13:51 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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Bhubaneswar: More than four decades after he dropped out of school over family compulsions, 57-year-old BJD MLA Angad Kanhar from Odisha’s Kandhamal district on Friday morning walked into a high school to write his Class X board examination like hundreds of other students.

57-year-old BJD MLA Angad Kanhar from Odisha’s Kandhamal district appeared for his Class X board examination on Friday morning. (Image used for representation). (GETTY IMAGES.)

Kanhar, a tribal MLA from Phulbani had queued up at Rujangi High School in Pitabari village of Kandhamal district to write the second language paper under the State Open School Certificate Examination. “I was not able to complete Class X due to different family issues. Recently, I learned that many have appeared for exams even at the age of 50 and more. So, I decided to take the board exams. There is no age barrier to appear for exams or to get educated,” said Kanhar, who took the exam along with his two friends, one of whom is a sarpanch.

The examination being conducted by the Board of Secondary Education began at 8 am amid tight security. A total of 5,71,909 students are appearing for the High Secondary Certificate Examination (HSC) while 9,378 and 4,443 students are writing the State Open School Certificate Examination (SOSC) and Madhyama exams, respectively in 3,540 centres. Like the National Institute of Open School, the Odisha State Open School, an autonomous body was started in 2016 under the Human Right Protection Act 1993 to allow school dropouts a chance to clear the Class X board examination without attending school.

The MLA was encouraged by members of the panchayat and his driver to take the test. “I don’t know whether I will pass the test or fail. But I wrote my paper with the intention of getting a Class X pass certificate,” said Kanhar, who dropped out of school in 1978 when he was in Class 8. In 1985, he became a sarpanch of Kerandibali panchayat and then chairman of Phiringia Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad member. In 2019, he was elected as the MLA from Phulbani constituency on a BJD ticket.

In 2017, BJD MLA Rajib Patra, 46, from Kandhamal district had cleared the Class X boards, more than three decades after he dropped out of school.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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