A teacher as a flag bearer of her children's education

Somyaranjan Sahoo had returned from college and was busy watching a movie on television when we interrupted his afternoon siesta. His mother, a teacher at Shishu Mandir School, had too returned from her job and was busy with post lunch clean up in the kitchen. Since Somya was himself available it was an opportunity to interact with the child for whom his mother had taken an education loan. Somya is a student of Class 11 at DR College in Bhubaneswar. He finds deep interest in subjects like Business Studies and Accounting. He is considering to pursue a career in Banking after finishing his college. He explains about the loan too, “We paid for my college fees and tuition fees”. Somya’s father runs a grocery shop. His elder sister is pursuing her graduation in Science at a college in Nayagarh, which is also their hometown. Besides college and tuition, he has an interest in playing cricket and watching films (which we had already interrupted). He also helps his mother in the household work. By this time we are joined by his mother, Santilata. She too adds that the loan helped in easing out the constraints they faced in educating their children. She is hopeful of pursuing more loans in future..