HSSLC: Meghalaya Taxi Driver's Son Top Commerce Examination

Poverty is not a deterrent for intelligent students and hard work is the most important key to success.

Keeping this as a motto,  Debraj Nag, son of a local taxi driver crossed all hurdles to achieve top position in the Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate (HSSLC) commerce examination.

Studying inside a single room rented accommodation, Debraj dreams of becoming a successful chartered accountant. It is a well-known saying that ‘No one has ever achieved greatness without dreams.’

Nag from Laban Bengalee Boys’ School scored the highest in the Commerce stream with 474 marks to top the list.

“This result is due to the hard work of my parents and my teachers,” Debraj said.

 Debraj’s Father, Debulal Nag drives a taxi for the last 22 years. A resident of Shella, Debulal came to Shillong 22 years back to earn livelihood. Since then he has been driving a Taxi in the streets of Shillong. No matter how odd the situation is, Debulal still drives a taxi to support his son’s education.

COVID 19 pandemic has crippled the lives of many taxi drivers in Shillong including Debulal.

 The lockdown was especially hard for the family with Debulal Nag unable to ply his vehicles for months. “Even now only 20 percent of the vehicles ply and I can ply only once in a week and run the family with whatever I earn,” Debulal said.

Driving a taxi once a week, Debdulal makes 9-10 trips in one day and earns Rs 800 to Rs 900. However, the money that he earns is not enough for his family to survive.

With that meagre earning, Debulal finds it difficult to support his son’s education as the school authority of Laban Bengalee Boys Higher Secondary school plays a bigger role in his life.

Getting enough tuition is not so easy for Debraj as his father has to pay Rs 5000 house rent for the one room rented accommodation in Shillong.

However, Young Debraj dreams to share the responsibility of his father and become a successful chartered accountant.

“I want to do something for my parents and now want to be a chartered accountant,” Debraj said.

Coupled with the financial hardship, the pandemic also caused further hardship and Debraj said that online classes were a big challenge initially. “However slowly we were able to manage,” he added.

 However, the parents are still unsure how they would be able to provide for the higher education expenses, but are optimistic that they would be able to raise the funds somehow. “I am very happy for my son on his achievement,” Debraj’s mother, Bijoylakshmi Nag said.

 Debraj also thanked his teachers at the school for supporting him throughout.

Meanwhile, Vice Principal of the school Jona Goswami said, Debraj’s school fees were waived by the school and books and exercise copies were provided by teachers considering his family’s financial background.

“Lot of students in our school come from humble economical backgrounds and the school takes care of them,” Goswami said, adding Debraj was a bright student and his school fees and books were provided by the school and also the teachers.

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