A tale of two courageous daughters

Aparna Banerji

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 13

It’s a happy day for Balvir Singh, the father of Sumandeep Kaur (16) who has stood second in the district in the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) Class XII examination.

In a state where only 54 per cent of the boys were able to pass this PSEB exam, a look at the dilemma of Balvir Singh might offer some insight.

As he wiped tears off his eyes embracing his daughter, the proud daily wage labourer recalled the pain he had undergone to ensure his children’s education. While Sumandeep bagged the 20th position in the state, it wasn’t as easy for Balvir to educate her two brothers. Her brother also stood with the duo at the school today, happy at his sister’s success.

“I used to call their teachers and ask them to use whatever means they wanted, but to at least get my boys to school. We saw a lot of financial hardships as well. But I feel very proud today. The hard work has paid off,” Balvir Singh said.

Sumandeep, who pursued the commerce stream and originally hails from Athaula village, is keen on becoming a journalist. While she was formerly at Government Senior Secondary School, Athaula, where the meritorious school principal Massa Singh also formerly served as principal, Massa Singh said, “She and another girl Pooja were brilliant. She was the first girl from the school to get 80 per cent marks. Since then I knew they would go far. So I brought them here.”

Govt teacher’s daughter aims to fight child labour

Nancy Bhadiar (17), who bagged 94.67 per cent marks and the 24th position in the state, is the daughter of government school teacher Shiv Kumar.

Always taking pride in his daughter and his job in a government school, her father ensured a good government school education for his daughter in the same school, Government Senior Secondary School Ghagwal (Hoshiarpur) where he taught.

Thanks to his vision, in class X, his daughter bagged 98.9 per cent marks, standing second in the district. Clearing her JEE mains Nancy, who is fluent in English as well, says, “I don’t want to leave the merit school. I have loved every moment here.”

While Nancy aspires to be a civil engineer, her ultimate dream is to become an IAS officer. “I hate watching little children wash utensils and breaking stones. I want to eradicate child labour. My father calls me his ‘sher putt’, when I topped class X, he was overjoyed. I want to fulfil all dreams he saw in me.”

Believing government schools to be better than private ones, she says, “Government schools have TET-cleared teachers. She also wants to better government education after becoming an IAS officer.” Standing ninth in the district, Nancy got 426 marks out of 450.