Agartala: A day after EastMojo highlighted the story of a 15-year-old differently-abled teen, Pralay Dey, who shone in the recently-declared Class X board examination results, Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb announced that the state government will bear all his education expenses.
Following the report, Deb invited Pralay and his family members to his official residence and congratulated him on Monday morning.
Talking to reporters soon after the meeting, the CM said that Pralay has set an example for others to follow. A “normal” person finds it difficult to write papers in three hours, but Pralay did the same in less time, he added.
Born with deformed hands, Pralay, a student of Matabari HS School, wrote his papers using his feet. He secured first division in the exams securing 346 marks in total with “letter” marks in both the language papers.
Born to a poor family, Pralay’s mother works as a helper at an ‘anganwadi’ centre in a remote village in the state’s Gomati district.
“The state government will provide him every possible support along with free higher education in whatever subjects he wishes to pursue his career in,” Deb said.
The 15-year-old student from Udaipur, whose story was first highlighted by EastMojo in March this year, has cleared his Class X board exams, the results of which were declared on Saturday.
Earlier, while speaking to EastMojo on March 25, Pralay had said, “The exams went well. I am confident of securing 80% in the exams.”
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Determined to not let his “disability” define his capabilities, Pralay has been using his limbs to write, draw and paint. He has trained his leg to draw pictures and has won many awards competing in state-level art competitions.
Earlier, Putul Guha Dey, Pralay’s mother, said, “My son has scored well in his language papers but marks in two papers were not up to the mark. So, he will file a review with the Tripura Board of Secondary Education, which conducts the exam in the state.”
“We wanted him to study engineering but due to financial constraints, we cannot afford his educational expenses. He will take admission in Chandrapur HS School and study further in Humanities stream,” Pralay’s mother added.
Talking about his journey so far, she said: “He started drawing by looking at various pictures. He had a drawing book, and then he asked me to get him colour pencils. I bought him a pack of colour pencils. He didn’t have any art teacher at that time.”
Pralay added, “At the time of my birth, my hands were folded backwards. After 15 days, my hands were plastered. After being kept plastered for three-and-a-half years, it was brought to this current position.”
“I don’t see myself as different from the other kids. I feel, I am also one of them. I can move like them and do things like them,” he added.
Pralay now wants to enroll in the arts stream to hone his dream of becoming a professor of English. “I will get enrolled into the arts stream. After this, I am going to pursue my graduation in English and will become a professor,” he added.
