MYSORE: Social reformers and government call for annihilation of caste. However, a destitute girl who managed to obtain second class in IIPU commerce with 67.3 per cent did not get a seat for mentioning ‘Indian’ in the caste column of her application submitted to University of Mysore.Manjula (named changed), the daughter of a sex worker, is running from pillar to post, but has no record of her parents or her relatives to obtain details about her caste.Manjula’s mother died of HIV; she lost her father at a very young age and was picked up by a home for destitute children. It was from here that she did her bridge course and appeared for seventh standard examinations.She joined the Government High School in Hootagalli and passed SSLC with first class. While many of her friends chose arts stream, she opted for commerce at Government College in Kumbara Koppal and passed with first class scoring 74 per cent in Business Management, 70 in Accountancy, 70 per cent in Economics, 61 in History, 77 in Kannada and 53 in English.Manjula applied at Maharaja’s College, seeking a seat for first year BCom. She was considered for general merit category for stating ‘Indian’ in the caste column and mentioning “Odnandi Seva Samasthe” as her father’s name.To her bad luck, the applicants with 444 marks were eligible under the general category and were admitted.The college management told that they cannot accommodate her as she does not belong to SC/ST, or OBC castes.She needs Rs 3,200 for fees and is looking for a donor to help her achieve her dreams.She is also knocking on the doors of other colleges.Though caretakers from Odanadi and other organisations appealed to consider her as a special case, the university says there exists no such provision.Parshu of Odanadi said that there should be some provisions to encourage destitute children and child labourers to pursue higher education.He criticised the government for turning a blind eye to their plea.
Comments
0 comment