Jayasurya was busy mixing cement at a construction site near Kottakkal when Education Minister C. Raveendranath announced the State’s higher secondary school examination results on Wednesday afternoon.
The student’s sterling victory with full A+ in Plus Two commerce stream is unlike thousands of others. The son of a Tamil migrant couple who makes a living by collecting scrap, Jayasurya knew his victory had more sheen than that of his friends.
The jubilation on Government Raja’s Higher Secondary School campus at Kottakkal on Wednesday saw him getting special attention. “I want to become a teacher,” said Jayasurya.
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Living in rented quarters at Kottakkal, Jayasurya used to join his mother Govindamma in her scrap collection outings. But she insisted that he focus on his studies as he grew up. “I couldn’t simply watch my mother struggling hard to make a living. So I started going for construction work whenever I got time,” he said.
His father Raja Kannan has been bedridden after a road accident several years ago. Their struggle saw a positive turn when a local television channel broadcast Jayasurya’s triumph. Private companies have come forward to support his education while a philanthropist has offered to build a house for the family.