Denied hall ticket, SSLC girl tops supplementary

Denied hall ticket, SSLC girl tops supplementary

SruthySusan.Ullas@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:12.10.2021

Greeshma Nayak, the girl who was denied a hall ticket for SSLC exam over non-payment of fees, has topped the supplementary exam scoring 599 on 625.

Results of the SSLC supplementary exam held on September 27 and 29 were announced on Monday. Some 55.5% of the 53,115 candidates have cleared the exam.

The topper wants to be a doctor and is exploring PU colleges for admission. “I was prepared 100% for the main exam which I could not attend. With the supplementary, I got some more time to prepare. However, I made silly mistakes because of tension in the exam hall. Else, I could have scored better. I was so disappointed after the exams,” she said.

In mid-July this year, Greeshma was denied a hall ticket by her residential school in Daskhina Kannada district over fees. Her father, a farmer in Hanumanthapura village from Koratagere taluk in Tumakuru district, suffered losses during the pandemic and could not pay her Class 9 fees. Therefore, she was not allowed to join Class 10.

Have mixed emotions: Girl

Following media reports about the girl's plight, then education minister S Suresh Kumar visited her house. He promised her an opportunity in the supplementary exam. Along with Greeshma’s case, instances of several students who were denied hall tickets due to nonpayment of fees were raised.

On Monday, Greeshma said she has mixed emotions. “I was unhappy earlier because my batchmates were moving ahead while I was left behind as I couldn’t write the main exams. Now, I’m both happy and sad: Happy because I did very well; sad because all this happened. There are many students like me who have talent but no opportunity,” she said. “Education is everyone’s right,” she said.

Since she was denied admission to Class 10, Greeshma was taught by her 19-yearold sister, a BSc (agriculture) student. “For one full year, my sister taught me core subjects in front of a board in simulation of classroom experience and asked me to learn languages on my own. I started learning them three months before the exam,” she said. After the results were out, the girl called Kumar to thank him.

‘Midday meals from Oct 21’

BC Nagesh, minister for primary and secondary education, said midday meals will be resumed in schools from October 21 when they reopen after Dasara holidays. “Parents’ associations have had discussions with education officials on forming a fee regulatory committee in schools. We will look at how the model works in other states,” he said.