Investing in education

A father bet on knowledge to take his family out of poverty. The gamble is paying off

Sixty years of freedom and so much that has gone wrong. But look around. There8217;s one system, flawed and rickety, that still is the best bet for Indian aspiration-learning. Ask Satyanarayan Prasad.

In the crowded corridors of Begusasari civil court, Prasad is not just another vendor selling stamps. He has a special status. 8216;8216;So you want to meet the father of a doctor and an engineer?8217;8217; vendors in the court ask in tones of awe and envy and point to a man in a white kurta-pyjama.

In the dusty boondocks of a country of countless dreams, where most ambitions latch on to that magic word, education, 55-year-old Prasad is a man of wisdom, one who bet on the right horse-learning.

Among the host of vendors in the civil court, only Prasad8217;s sons have made it to educational institutions that still remain a dream for students from a town like Begusarai. Two of his three children, Vikram and Vikrant, are students of medicine and engineering. While Vikram is a second-year medical student of B. G. College, Pune, Vikrant is a student of chemical engineering at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology IIT, Mumbai. Vikram cracked the CBSE Medical Entrance exam in 2005 and ranked 591 in the country while Vikrant came out with flying colours in the 2006 IIT entrance exam.

8216;8216;He invested every penny he earned towards education of his sons and it has yielded handsome returns,8217;8217; pointed out Brajmohan, a court staff.

For 25 years now, Prasad has been selling non-judicial stamps and pushing his children to aim for a better life. The journey from nondescript Begusarai town in north Bihar to dream cities of Mumbai and Pune has obviously not been an easy one for the children. Behind it is the sacrifice of a lower middle class family that struggles every day to make ends meet. 8216;8216;It was not easy. I had to cut down on household expenses and save for the children8217;s studies. When even that was not enough, I have even sold my jewelry,8217;8217; says mother Aruna Devi.

Devi says she always knew that education would be her children8217;s ticket out of deprivation. So she cut down on basic necessities to send her sons to fairly good schools in Begusarai. After studying till Class 6 in local government schools, Vikram and Vikrant sat for the state level entrance exam to make it to the prestigious and affordable government residential school in Netarhat. Every year 100 students are selected to study in this residential school now in Jharkhand after a three-stage entrance exam. Vikram had ranked 43 while the next year Vikrant topped the exam. 8216;8216;For a poor family like us, the Netarhat school was a blessing as it gave free education to the poor,8217;8217; says Aruna.

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When Vikram wanted to take a shot at the CBSE Medical entrance exam, Aruna sold whatever little jewelry she had to send him to a coaching class in Kota Rajasthan. In Vikrant8217;s case, it was the 8216;8216;Super 308217;8217; coaching school started by police officer Abhyanand and mathematician Anand Kumar that gave him crucial training.

The transition from small town to dream cities has been a big shock for the two students.

8216;8216;Vikram says he is the only one in the college who walks on foot to the market. All other students have cars,8217;8217; says Prasad, worried how it might affect his son. But his son is quick to reassure him. 8216;8216;Almost 70 per cent of the students in my college are children of established doctors. I know that their parents can afford a lot of things. But once I do well, we8217;ll have everything,8217;8217; Vikram says with confidence. Here8217;s one small-town story that will be shining for a lifetime.