According to her mother, Swetha* constantly fell sick with high fever, even while she was studying for her class X exams. But the 16-year-old, who has a heart ailment and is to undergo surgery soon, scored 250/500 and doesn’t miss a stride.
A resident of CHES, a home for children infected with, and affected by HIV/AIDS, Swetha is one of three students there who wrote the class X exams this year.
“I’m planning to take up the biology stream, and I want to become a lab technician,” she says.
A fencer, who has gone up to the State level, Swetha also enjoys playing with the little ones at the home and in her spare time, plays the keyboard.
For her mother, this is a dream come true. “I have not studied at all and I was determined my daughter should do so. Her father died when she was two, and she has lived in the home since,” she says.
Not everyone who is 16 knows what they want to be, but Deepa* is very specific – becoming a news anchor for a popular Tamil channel is her goal, and already having won several elocution competitions, she is determined to get there.
With a score of 255/500, Deepa says she didn’t study all that much except during the holidays. “I was quite tense this morning until the results came out,” she adds. At the home, they say polio has affected both her legs and it’s a bit of a struggle to walk, but she manages well.
While the third student who attempted the exam failed, P. Manorama, founder of the home, says, “It’s definitely not a failure for him, considering his health. He will attempt the exam again next year.”
*Names changed to protect privacy
