Winning an Award is Hard Work

“When I received the Pratibha Award, I had tears of joy on my face. I come from the Irula community in Thiruvallur, Tamil Nadu. No one in my family has ever been to school, I was the first. But I had to drop out to help my family at a brick kiln and grazing cattle. My life changed when Hand in Hand India staff spotted me and called me to study at the Hand in Hand RSTC, it was home away from home.” The Pratibha Award is given to meritorious students of Grade 10. When Meera joined our RSTC, she got back to the basics, worked her way up to Grade 8 and finally was ready to move to a full-fledged school. Our RSTC is for children like Meera who had to drop out of school due to tough circumstances. Here they are brought up to the basics and given a holistic education with physical education, discipline and everything that is needed to make them a rounded individual.