Sevalaya’s Mahakavi Bharathiyar Higher Secondary School for the rural poor children has secured 99.3% pass results in the X Std Board Examination held in March 2016.
152 out of 153 students who appeared for the exams were successful. 7students scored above 450 and 105 students passed with distinction while 139 secured first division marks. Students have secured 2 centums in maths and 9 centums in social “This school has been functioning for the last 28 years without any government grant. The school admits only orphan, destitute and poor children and gives them completely free education. Currently 2000 children are studying here. The school has been functioning with the support of public and corporate for the past 28 years. I dedicate this success to all donors who have been supporting us year after year” says V Muralidharan, Founder of Sevalaya.
The first three rank holders in school are first generation learners. They have achieved this success in spite of several obstacles and hardships especially the severe unprecedented floods which resulted in the loss of nearly 90 working days. Many of these students were forced to vacate their flooded homes and take shelter in homes of relatives, friends etc.
Mahalakshmi the first ranker with a total of 487 scored centums in mathematics and social. She has been a student of Sevalaya from Balwadi. Daughter of a mason, this all rounder has won several prizes in various extracurricular activities. Calm and quiet by nature Mahalakshmi has to help her mother, who is not very healthy, in the housework. She manages both the work and studies with ease. She attributes her success to the steady encouragement and support of her teachers who were always motivating and encouraging her at every step spending extra hours clearing her doubts and correcting the smallest of mistakes in each test paper. She dreams of becoming a chartered accountant.
S Nithesh stood second scoring 484 with centums in mathematics and Sciences followed by K Vaishnavi who stood third with a total of 471. S Nithesh from Bandikavanur had a horrifying experience during exams. After the maths exams his mother was bitten by a snake. With the moral support of his teachers he prepared for the next day’s science papers and got 99 marks in science. His father is a driver and mother is a daily wages labourer. A student of Sevalaya from Balwadi he is thankful to Sevalaya which provided everything free of cost and wants to join the IAS. He attributes his success to the good environment which motivated him to study and hard working teachers who spared no efforts to help students. Nitesh too made a few sacrifices cutting down on TV watching and playing with friends and opted spending more time in studies. He feels that the daily prayers in the school assembly created a positive energy field which influenced the students .His pillars of success are his mother and teachers, especially his teachers who have helped him to score high marks.
K Vaishnavi who lives in Thumbur village with her parents and three sisters might have found it difficult to continue her studies had it not been for Sevalaya. Her father Kumar works in a tea stall while her mother is a homemaker. She attributes her success to Sevalaya, her teachers’ extra efforts and her supportive parents. She joined this school only in IX and the entire atmosphere was a pleasant surprise for her. Attending various kinds of training, functional English classes, large labs with hands on experience opened up a new dimension of knowledge and increased her thirst for learning. She enjoys helping others and spends all her spare time working with the slow learners in her class helping them cope with the lessons. Endowed with leadership capacities this bold girl is determined to become an excellent maths teacher .She says the home tests given by the maths teachers were especially useful.
Sevalaya, gratefully acknowledges the dedicated efforts of the teachers, who work with missionary zeal and fervor to serve the poor and needy, and not merely for the salary they earn. Sevalaya also acknowledges with gratitude the consistent and generous contributions of our donors, without whose support, we could not have achieved this result.
