Dasari Anitha may be no Malala Yousufzai, but her achievement has left the whole Chenchu tribal habitation in Chenchugudem ecstatic. The 18-year-old has cleared her Intermediate examination, a feat no girl from the Chenchu tribal village has ever accomplished.
Anitha scored 671 marks out of a total of 1,000, something the villagers say would encourage girl education among Chenchu families.
Located in Timmapur Panchayat under the Chandampet mandal, the 42-house exclusive Chenchu habitation had never sent a girl to college until Anitha was admitted to the Tribal Welfare Residential Education Societies’ College in Damarcherla mandal two years ago (the Biology-Physics-Chemistry group).
The previous highest qualification was that of a girl who had studied up to the class 7, says Anjaiah, Anitha’s father. “But she was married off at a very tender age,” he said.
However, things have changed after Anitha went to college, he said. Twelve girls have since been admitted to the Mini Gurukulam in Chandampet to classes 5, 6 and 8.
Anitha told The Hindu that she aimed to become a teacher after completing her two-year Teacher Training Course (TTC).
Her mother Eedamma said the family was elated at her achievement and was looking forward to seeing Anitha become a teacher. She hoped Anitha’s achievement would inspire her three younger siblings.
The Chenchu couple cultivates various crops in their two-acre land, but that still leaves them little for two square meals a day for their six-member family.
The Chenchu habitation has appealed to the government to provide Anitha a TTC admission and guide her to become a teacher as her achievement could provide a boost to girl education not only in the nine tribal habitations of Chandampet mandal, but also in Chenchu families living in adjoining Nallamala forest.
