CHENNAI: Narayana Pandiyan (19) has been a child labourer and school drop-out, and now aspires to be a mechanical engineer. A student of Maths and Biology in the Corporation Higher Secondary School, Patel Nager, he has scored 997 marks. It’s not just luck that has brought him so far, hard work has been a way of life for him. Born to daily wage labourers who live in the slums of Korukkupet, Narayana was in Class VII when had to drop out of school. He says, “When my mother fell sick, my father who travels on a cycle selling sweets had to stay back home to take care of her and also to cook food for my four younger siblings. Being the eldest, I had to support my family and so I went to work in a steel factory. I used to bring home `50 after a day’s work.”Narayana continued to work for two years to support his family. In that time his mother passed away. A chance meeting with staff of the NGO Arunodaya got him enrolled in the bridge course. He was later mainstreamed in a regular school. “Going back to school was the best thing that happened in my life.” In Class X he scored 439 marks. He worked as a house-keeping staff in an office. He says, “I had to continue to do part-time work to help my father keep my four other siblings in school.” He reports to work at 9 pm and works till 2.30 am, sleeps for a while and then rushed off to school in the mornings. “Every day after I get back from school I study between 4 pm to 8 pm, before I report to work at 9 pm,” he adds.
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