Odisha tribal who topped exam in district works as labourer to fund studies | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Odisha tribal who topped exam in district works as labourer to fund studies

ByDebabrata Mohanty
May 30, 2023 10:03 PM IST

Karama Muduli said she could not afford new notebooks and would write on them with pencils, erase what she wrote when it was finished so that she could use the notebook all over again

BHUBANESWAR: A 20-year-old, who was the first from Odisha’s primitive tribe last year to top the higher secondary examination in Malkangiri district, is back to working at a construction site during the summer break to fund her studies.

Karama Muduli is from the Bonda tribe, which is known for its secluded lifestyle and is counted among Odisha’s particularly vulnerable tribal groups (File Photo)
Karama Muduli is from the Bonda tribe, which is known for its secluded lifestyle and is counted among Odisha’s particularly vulnerable tribal groups (File Photo)

Karama Muduli is from the Bonda tribe, which is known for its secluded lifestyle and is counted among Odisha’s particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG).

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Bondas live in highlands, 3,500-feet above sea level, and are spread mostly in 32 villages of Mudulipada and Andrahal panchayats of Khairput block in Malkangiri district, the southernmost district of Odisha. There are about 6,000 Bondas in Odisha.

The literacy rate among the Bondas is just about 6%, according to the 2011 Census.

Karama Muduli said she did get help after her performance in the state board examination but it wasn’t enough. It isn’t that she didn’t try. “Since I couldn’t afford to buy new notebooks, I would write with a pencil, erase what I wrote and write all over again,” she said.

She explained: “After I passed the higher secondary exam last year, Myra Charitable Trust came forward to help me realise my dream. They got me admitted to Rama Devi University in Bhubaneswar and gave 1,000 for hostel expenses every month. But I found it a herculean task to meet the education cost as my family is very poor. I have no money to buy books and other stationery items…. With no option left, I decided to work as a daily labourer in Malkangiri during summer vacation,” said Muduli, who is getting 220 as wage.

A student of the scheduled tribe & scheduled caste development department-run Higher Secondary School at Govindpalli, Karma scored 82.66% in the annual examination conducted by Odisha’s Council of Higher Secondary Education last year.

Her parents are marginal farmers while her elder brother Bina studied up to Class 8 before dropping out. One of her younger sisters Manguli, 18, discontinued her studies due to poverty while another, 13-year-old Sima, is a class 8 student.

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