May 30: Offers of help poured in today for Vivek Agarwal, who scored 87 per cent in ICSE despite spending most evenings on the pavement selling bhutta.
Metro today published the story ("Boy behind corn cart cracks ICSE goal") ofthe 16-year-old's truimph in the face of immense hardships, which include standing in for his father at their roadside bhutta shop to help the family of four tide over financial crunch.
Two individuals approached the principal of Union Chapel School, from where Vivek appeared for his ICSE exams, and offered to pay his tuition fees for the two years in Plus-II. The La Martiniere schools will pay for his books.
Union Chapel School principal Angela Ghose got the first call from Reverend Ashoke Biswas, the bishop of the Calcutta diocese of the Church of North India, who wanted to meet and congratulate Vivek.
Union Chapel School has classes till X, so Vivek has to take admission to some other school for Plus-II. "I had visited a school before the ICSE results were declared and was told that I would have to pay Rs 62,000 within three days for admission. My parents could not arrange the money," Vivek had told this newspaper.
Today, the bishop offered him admission to St. Paul's Mission School in Sealdah, which is under the Church of North India. The school has waived the admission fee for Vivek.
The bishop also handed him an envelope and asked him to use it for his studies. "Wherever our students are they should receive proper education. It is commendable that this boy is selling corn without any prejudice and without any kind of embarrassment," Reverend Biswas said.
The La Martiniere schools will pay for his books. The secretary of the schools, Supriyo Dhar, asked Vivek "to come if he needed any kind of help".
Tears of gratitude welled up in the eyes of Vivek's mother Anju. Recounting the time of his son's admission to Union Chapel School, she said: "We did not have enough money but my son had told me he wanted to go to a good school. I did not know what a good school meant. I approached this school and they let me pay his fees in instalments."
