Aizawl: Going in the line of a Good Samaritan found in the Bible, the Hmar Students’ Association (HSA) — comprising both the general headquarters based in Manipur’s Churachandpur district and its Aizawl joint headquarters — and an online news portal ‘Virthli’ rewarded Given Lawmnakima Thiak, an economically underprivileged student from Bilkhawthlir, a small town in north Mizoram’s Kolasib district, who shone in the Mizoram’s High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examination recently.
On Thursday night, leaders of HSA Aizawl joint headquarters interacted with Thiak and his father David TVL Hmangaiha at T Liansiama’s residence in Aizawl’s Venghlui locality, where the duo had lodged during their brief visit to Aizawl to take part in school interview for admission, and handed over Rs 16,000 to the boy as a token of appreciation on behalf of HSA general headquarters, HSA Aizawl joint headquarters and Virthli.
Headquartered in Churanchandpur, HSA is the lone student body and foremost non-profit non-governmental organization among the various civil bodies of the indigenous Hmar people established in 1939. It has 13 joint headquarters, four branches and various units in different part of the country including the national capital-Delhi and metropolitan cities like Kolkata, Pune, Bangalore and in all the capitals of the Northeastern states, among others.
Apart from being pressure group, the student body also acts as a philanthropic organisation and helps students by extending financial assistance and conducting free coaching.
Also Read: Help pours in for Mizoram farmer’s son who shone in Class X exams
Virthli is one of the fastest growing and most popular news networks in the Hmar community and among the top contributors of news on the Chin-Kuki-Mizo group started by a group of young journalists and educated people.
It had won the prestigious e-North-East Award in e-News& Media, Social Media for empowerment category in 2016.
As reported earlier, Thiak had carved its name in Mizoram’s HSLC exams by earning a ‘distinction’. His father is a poor farmer, earning a living out of jhum cultivation to raise his nine children, who live in a small bamboo hut at Bilkhawthlir’s Kharzawl locality.
Thiak, the eldest of the nine siblings, used to help his father at fields on weekends and vacations. On several occasions, he would skip classes to help his father to supplement the family’s income.
There were times he could not study due to poverty. But Thiak was not a coward to give up study. He ran pillar to post, pulled up his socks up to overcome financial constraint and receive education.
On sympathising him, his principal and teachers sponsored his admission, uniform and books when he studied Class X at government-aided or ad hoc school in his town.
In the Class X results declared by the Mizoram Board of School Education on May 2, the 15-year-old student of Bilkhawthlir High School scored 433 out of 500 marks (86.6%) and secured ‘letter’ marks in all five subjects.
