At 105 years of age, Bhageerathi Amma has become the oldest student in the country to clear her exams. On February 5, the Kerala Literacy Mission announced that she had successfully cleared the fourth standard equivalency exam. According to the Mission, she was able to score 205 out of 275 marks in Malayalam, Mathematics and Environment. Out of 11,593 candidates who wrote the exam, 10,012, including 9456 women, cleared it. PS Srikala, the Director of the Literacy Mission visited the grandmother of 12 to congratulate her on the unprecedented feat.
A week before the announcement of the results, Bhageerathi Amma had been bedridden with fever and a few accompanying ailments. Her daughter, Thankamani A Pilla says, "I thought that this was the end for her because she was so sick. And then, it was almost as though she came back to life right before the results were announced. I got a call from the Literacy Mission that she had passed the exams. When I told her, she actually perked up and asked me to wake her up when they arrive!" The native of Prakkulam, Kollam is the oldest person ever to enroll in the Kerala Literacy Mission Programme. The fourth standard exams were held in Prakkulam Lower Primary School on November 17.
Bhageerathi Amma said, "I kept waiting for the results to come but it took so long that I got a little worried. I am extremely happy with what I have been able to do. Now I want to write the 10th standard exam." Her daughter chimes in, "My mother has always been self-reliant. She raised my four siblings and I on her own after my father passed away. Again, this achievement is also completely her own. We were worried that she was losing her steam over the past few months because of health reasons, but this seems to have brought her energy right back!"
Earlier, the district collector celebrated her journey at the Gram Panchayat with an award ceremony and declared her as the brand ambassador of the Kollam District Literacy mission for their forthcoming initiatives.
