Kaushal Kishore Singh (second from left) with jail inmates. Picture Uma Shankar Dubey

Jamshedpur, June 13: The darkness of the cell did not stop 19-year-old Kaushal Kishore Singh from chasing his dream.

Sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, the youngster is confident that he would realise his dream of becoming an engineer. The life sentence notwithstanding, Kaushal secured 67.60 per cent marks in the secondary school examination conducted by the National Institute of Open School (NIOS).

The score card of Chunnu Bhumij is no different. He, too, is serving life imprisonment for murder at the Sakchi subdivisional jail. But the punishment has not deterred the 23-year-old prisoner from dreaming of becoming a teacher. The 67 per cent marks that he secured in the NIOS exams has encouraged him to make attempts to realise his dream.

Kaushal, a resident of Sidhgora, will have the company of his family in the jail, including his father and four siblings, all of whom have been convicted in the murder case of an army jawan. “I was a school dropout. But now I want to study. I want to become an engineer and I am confidant of realising my dream,” said Singh.

Chunnu, who belongs to a poor family, said he had dreamt of becoming a teacher. “I would be able to serve society by becoming a teacher. I have already completed a course in screen printing and computer,” he said. Computer and screen printing are part of vocational training being conducted in the jail by Mukti, an NGO.

It was a celebration time on the jail premises when the authorities told the 25 prisoners, including convicts, that they had come out with flying colours in the examination which was held in April. Sakchi jail is the only prison in Jharkhand from where undertrials and convicts appeared for the NIOS exams, which was conducted for the first time.

Jail superintendent Deepak Vidyarthi told The Telegraph that the examinees were keen to know their results. “They wanted to know their results. I downloaded the results from the Net and immediately informed the candidates who had appeared in the examination,” he added.

The undertrial examinees burnt midnight oil to learn their lessons under the guidance of fellow prisoners. Three teachers of Vig English School also chipped in.

According to jail authorities, 12 of the 25 prisoners who sat for the exams, passed in all the five papers they answered.

“We are happy with the results. It is a positive sign and reflects the fact that the undertrials are keen to study and become good citizens after they finish term,” Vidyarthi said.

Prison Fellowship of India (PFI), an NGO working for the welfare of prisoners, had offered financial assistance to the 25 prisoners for the examination. PFI had spent Rs 52,600 on the prisoners during the exams.

According to Vidyarthi, the results have been sent to higher authorities, including the inspector-general (prisons), deputy commissioner, district and sessions judge and the chief judicial magistrate. “They expressed happiness over the performance of the prisoners,” the jail official added.