Daughter of a daily wage earner awarded gold medal, seven cash prizes at the 44th convocation of Mangalore University

A postgraduate in Kannada, N. Sandhya, whose father is a daily wage earner and mother who rolled beedis, was awarded with a gold medal and seven cash prizes at the 44th convocation of Mangalore University in Mangalagangotri on Saturday.

A postgraduate in Kannada, N. Sandhya, whose father is a daily wage earner and mother who rolled beedis, was awarded with a gold medal and seven cash prizes at the 44th convocation of Mangalore University in Mangalagangotri on Saturday.

Speaking to presspersons after the convocation ceremony, Ms. Sandhya, a native of Maninalkur near Sarapady in Bantwal taluk, said that she used to get up at 5 a.m. daily and milked a cow before attending classes. In the evening, she used to roll beedis with her mother to help in managing the family, as her father suffered from a pain on the left hand and could not do hard work. She has a younger sister studying.

“I used to leave home at Maninalkur daily at 7.15 a.m. to reach the university at Konaje and return home at 8.30 p.m.,” she said.

Ms. Sandhya, who is now pursuing Bachelor of Education (BEd) in Mangaluru, said that she wants to enrol for the PhD degree after completing BEd.

“Interest in literature drove me to study Kannada in postgraduation though I studied science (BSc) in undergraduation with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics subjects with Kannada and English language papers,” she said.

After completing her postgraduation and before enrolling for BEd, she taught for a while in a college at Kakkepadavu.