Good Samaritan: Arunachal guv gets poor girl admitted to school

Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh governor Brig (retired) BD Mishra on Tuesday played Good Samaritan by getting a six-year-old girl, the daughter of a poor labourer, admitted to the Government Primary School in ‘B’ Sector, Itanagar, and securing free education including uniforms, books and mid-day meals for her.

The governor chanced upon the kid, Manisha Munda, a few days ago while walking to Raj Bhavan from the Government Primary School in ‘B’ Sector, which he is developing by allocating a Raj Bhavan officer’s quarters to enable the school to provide a room to each class. While he walked up the road, he saw the little girl coming from the opposite direction, holding a Rs-10 note in her hand to buy biscuit for her younger brother, who was under her care, as her mother had left them at home and had gone for contingency work.

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Mishra asked the girl her name and age. She coyly replied that she was six years old. On his enquiry, she replied that she does not go to school, which came as a jolt to the him. He immediately directed his staff to find out the details about the child.

Manisha is one of the four siblings of Pinky Munda, a widow. When she used to go out for work, Manisha was left at home as a caretaker for her four-and-a-half-year-old younger brother. The governor was further informed that her elder brother, Manoj, aged eight years, also does not go to school. He then decided to admit all the three siblings at the Government Primary School, which he finally did on Tuesday.

From his own personal account, Mishra also gave a cheque of Rs 10,000 and on his request, the State Bank of India (SBI) officer also opened a fixed deposit account for Manisha. The proceeds of this account will be available to Manisha Munda when she attains the age of 18 years.

The governor, who is an ardent supporter of the concept of ‘Education to all children of Bharat Mata’, appealed the people, particularly, the public leaders, senior bureaucrats and financially well-off people, to support the schooling of poor children of Arunachal Pradesh and make it as their “wont”.