Divyadeepa

 A SCHOOL DROPOUT & DYSLEXIC BUILDS HIS LIFE

On 28^th of January Koushik, our alumni sponsored food for all the children. On that day Koushik had come along with his mother, sister, and his niece. (He had donated to the school on earlier occasion too.) “Because of your school, my son could build his life”, were the words uttered by his mother, the moment she saw me.  I felt like sharing his inspiring story. 

Koushik belonged to a rural agricultural family. His father was a graduate and mother had passed class VIII. Koushik studied in formal main stream schools. He exhibited excellent interest & talent for athletics & even won accolades in inter-school competitions. So, he joined a special residential sports school.  Unfortunately, he could not adjust to that school and lost interest not only in studies but also in sports. Eventually he dropped out of the school without completing class IX.  By seeing a full-page article in Andolana on 22-01-2012, Koushik’s mother came to Kaliyuva Mane and was very happy with the emotional ambience here.

She went home and persuaded her son and brought him to Kaliyuva Mane. In Kaliyuva Mane, children are given ample time (almost a month) to build rapport with the school, before starting lessons.  When Koushik was emotionally comfortable, he started opening up.  A brief informal dialogue with him indicated his academic lag.   He was taken to Clinical psychology department of All India Speech & Hearing (AIISH), Mysore, for a psychological and academic assessment. According to the report, he was a dyslexic boy. His IQ was 100 & academic level was 4^th standard at the age of 15 years.   At Kaliyuva Mane he regained his lost interest for studies.  At the age of 18, he completed class X board exam in English medium, from ‘Chinmayi’ team, by scoring 56.48% marks, without availing any concessions he was entitled to.   He achieved this feat in spite of being losing his father, just before a couple of months before his class X examination.

Then he completed Industrial Training.  Now, he is weaving world famous silk at Karnataka Silk Weaving Factory, Mysuru.  I wish him a SILKY SMOOTH FUTURE.