Five months ago, when we spoke to Oli Aman Jodha, she was distressed and clueless about what to do and how to continue her education. A trained apiarist, this 13-year-old from Wayanad had alleged harassment by her teachers, that eventually stopped her from going to school. They reportedly credited another student for Oli's apiculture project and destroyed the bee hives that she'd set up in the premises of the Government Vocational Higher Secondary High School, Ambalavayal, Wayanad.
But all that's history. Today, Oli is gearing up to start her IX grade classes in Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Bhavan's Vidyashram, NIRD, Hyderabad. The classes will begin on April 1 and Oli is now moving from Wayanad to Hyderabad, with her mother. "I have enrolled in class IX. This will be my second year in class IX. Last year, I could not attend classes, because of the hostile atmosphere in school," she says. The school authorities who allegedly locked Oli up and threatened to throw acid on her mother's face have previously told us that she was not in a mental situation to understand what was going on. "The school authorities created a lot of trouble even now. Getting my Transfer Certificate was no piece of cake," she says.
Oli has also bagged a job as a researcher in The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR)'s apiculture department. "I was working their part-time and now that I'm moving to Hyderabad, I'll be able to concentrate on my work more. I'd like to thank the IAS officers who are running the institute. They helped me a lot to get the admission in the school too," she says, enthusiastically. What about her beehives and the honeybees, we sought. "Where do I go without them? They're also coming to Hyderabad with us," she says.
For someone who's been around honey bees since she was three, Oli has bagged a lot of awards for apiculture. She was also the winner of Doordarshan's Haritha Vidyalayam in 2017, a reality show for school students. While we neared the end of the conversation, we couldn't help but ask Oli one last question — do these bees sting? "Not at all. It all depends on the way you behave. If you're good to them, they're good to you," she signs off.
