Dr Sankar said the Canara bank had come forward to help that boy and sanctioned the education loan
OOTY: Thanks to efforts by the Nilgiris collector, Dr P. Sankar, to arrange for financial assistance, C. Manigandan, an Irula tribal youth hailing from Moyar village near here, will be able to continue his MBBS course which looked like falling through midway. However, the struggle continues for the tribal youth, as he is in need of more financial aid.
With both his tribal parents daily-wage earners, Manigandan, who scored 1074 marks in Plus Two examination, was guided by his school teacher Mr. K. Balasubramanian to help find a seat through counseling process in a private medical college in Salem in 2011.
While he struggled initially to pay even the admission fee and could not complete the first year of the course, help reached him from some quarters and he
successfully began to pursue his dream over the past three years.
But trouble began to brew for him halfway through the course, as Manigandan came out of college two weeks ago to meet the collector here to seek his help to continue his course as he had been asked to pay a hefty Rs 12 lakh as fees to continue and complete the course, by the college management.
Manigandan, who already experienced the pain of fighting the poverty to pursue MBBS course, said, "The owner of the private medical college at Salem offered me a free seat and I joined there. After his demise recently, the present administration insisted that I should pay the prescribed fee, atleast in installments, to continue with the course.
When my dream of becoming a doctor suffered jolt, I approached the Nilgiris collector Dr. Sankar, who now arranged education loan through a bank to the tune of Rs 7.50 lakh. Still I need around Rs 4.50 lakh, and I'm looking for help from philanthropists and generous -minded people to complete my course and return as a doctor."
Dr Sankar said the Canara bank had come forward to help that boy and sanctioned the education loan.
This apart, the Nilgiri Adivasis Welfare Association has sought scholarship from the government for this boy. Manigandan may get that also soon, he added.
