The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Schoolgirl shines against all odds

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Monday, Jul 07, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Schoolgirl shines against all odds

Staff Reporter

The girl emerged as a topper by scoring 580 of 600 marks in her 9th class examination.

ELURU: Fourteen-year-old P. Saileela hardly experiences any parental love and support as her parents deserted her.

Yet, it fails to be a barrier for the girl in doing her school proud with her stunning academic performance. She emerged as a topper by scoring 580 of 600 marks in her 9th class examination.

A student of Kasturba Municipal Girls High School, Saileela stole the show at a function held here on Sunday under the aegis of the Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust . She received a cash prize from Brijgopal Lunani, Managing Director, Sri Krishna Jute Mill, for her outstanding academic performance.

“My father Ranga Babu, a Registered Medical Practitioner, deserted our family when I was a two-year-old baby.

The last meeting I had with him was in a police station a couple of years ago in connection with my mother’s plea for maintenance by the latter,” she recalls.

“My mother Sobha also deserted me and my brother and left for Kasi for mental peace some time ago,” she adds.

Saileela and her brother Kranti Kumar, a degree student, are presently living with their grandfather D. Satyanarayana, a retired government employee.

Ambition

“I want to become a software engineer,” Saileela expresses her wish.

Even as members of the Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust offer to adopt her and bear the expenses required for her higher education, she thanked the philanthropists while promising to utilise their offer properly and measure up to their expectations.

L.V.A. Ratna Kumar, her school teacher, told The Hindu that Saileela got a similar track record in extra-curricular activities such as elocution and essay-writing contests.

Her exhibits in promotion of vermin-composting in the recent District Science Fair had won the appreciation of authorities from the Education Department.

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