A 16-year-old boy from Assam, in the care of state department of social justice’s Samaj Suraksha Sankul, a residential institute in Vadodara, is looking forward to appearing for his Class X SSC examinations beginning March 11.
After completing his exams, he will travel to Assam to meet his family for the first time, nine years after he was found unaccompanied by the Vadodara Railway Police and sent to Sankul.
Samaj Suraksha Sankul is a residential and support institute for visually impaired, physically challenged, and children in need of protection and care. The teen is among the 39 students from the residential school who will appear for the Gujarat Board classes X and XII examinations.
Of the 39 students, 24 are visually impaired and 15 are regular students, who are under the care of the institute run by the department in collaboration with Deepak Foundation. The residential institute has 300 students, of whom 116 are visually impaired.
Sankul project manager Mukesh Modi said the teen was around eight years old when he was brought to the institution and did not remember his village in Assam.
“He had boarded a train by mistake in Assam and landed in Vadodara, where he was found by the railway police and handed over to the Sankul. Despite repeated efforts, the police and the department was unable to locate his family. But recently, after the intervention of some community workers, his village in Assam and family were located,” he added.
“As he is not fluent in Assamese and his family does not know any other language, so a relative of the boy is acting as a interpreter between him and his family… He is excited that he will travel to meet them after appearing for his exams.” The teen told The Indian Express, “Every year, when other students, who have families, would leave for vacations, I would ask the coordinator if there will be a day when I will meet my family. Finally, I have found my family and cannot wait to complete the exams and head home. I intend to stay back in Assam and complete my education. I am grateful to Sankul for taking care of me all these years.”
Modi said, “We have 11 visually impaired children appearing for SSC examinations and 13 visually impaired children sitting for HSC examinations. Among the regular students, 13 are appearing for SSC while two are appearing for HSC. This will be the fourth batch to appear for Board exams from the centre.”
Among the visually impaired HSC candidates is a 23-year-old youth, who arrived at Sankul recently, seven years after being orphaned. A native of Dang, he said: “I had completed my Class X Board exams at the age of 15. Thereafter, tragedy struck one after the other and I lost my entire family… No one took care of me or funded my education and I could not complete Class XII… I had to take up odd jobs to survive. It was when someone directed me to the Sankul that I received the support and a chance to appear for the Class XII exams,” he added.
