After global press, ‘cycle girl’ from Bihar gets a school and a bicycle

Jyoti had carried her sick father on a bicycle from Gurugram to Darbhanga in eight days.

Fifteen-year-old Jyoti Kumari, who earned global attention after carrying her injured father on a bicycle, peddling a distance of nearly 1,200 km from Gurugram to Darbhanga in eight days, has been granted admission into class 9.

Jyoti Kumari was given a new cycle, school uniform and text books in recognition of her herculean effort. (Sourced Photo)

According to family sources, Jyoti, daughter of Mohan Paswan, had to drop out of school due to a financial crisis a few years ago.

District programme officer Sanjay Kumar Deo Kanhaiya said on Saturday that Jyoti has been granted admission in class 9 at the government school in Singhwara block.

The education department also gifted her a brand new cycle, along with school dress, shoes, text books and stationary items on Saturday.

Jyoti, who has been quarantined at home upon her return, expressed happiness that she would be able to go to school again. “As of now, I will concentrate on my studies.”

Asked about the tweet of appreciation for her by US president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, Jyoti said she came to know of it through a cousin.

As far as an offer from the Cycling Federation of India is concerned, she said she would decide about it in the coming month.

Second among her five siblings, Jyoti has been home quarantined while her father Mohan Paswan has been put up at a quarantine centre in a school.

Mukesh Kumar Jha, state coordinator of Dr Prabhat Das Foundation, who was among the first to felicitate Jyoti with “Mithila Virangana Samman”, said she had shown exemplary courage.