Shivi Bai is a happy mother. Her only son, Chowhan Ramesh, has reformed and is going to school regularly. Ramesh is a 12-year-old boy from Pichergadh tanda (A) in Kohir mandal and lost his father a few years back. With nobody but his mother to supervise him, he fell into the habit of drinking and stopped attending school two years ago. He used to take money regularly from his mother, who works as a daily labourer.
However, the offer of a small gift went a long way in helping him reform. While conducting a survey for out-of-school children at the tanda in November 2014, the officials identified 14 children, including Ramesh. Despite counselling by teachers and others, he refused to start attending school. Again after a week, mandal tahsildar Parveen Shaik and mandal education officer D. Anjaiah visited the tanda and got him admitted to Picherghad School, about 5 km from the tanda. They also promised to gift Ramesh a cycle if he promised to go to school regularly.
The offer of the gift had a great impact on Ramesh. He wanted to own the cycle. He attended school by walking about 10 km every day for two months. As Ramesh has been going to school regularly, the officials decided to offer him the cycle as promised.
