The Kerala Class XII board examination results would have disappointed Dr Nitheeshkumar PK more than anyone else. To begin with, only 87.94 per cent of the students who wrote the exam across the state managed to pass. A lot of the students who did not qualify for higher studies include quite a number of the 724 tribal students that he has been mentoring in Wayanad.
When we spoke to this Social Work teacher at the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, he was still trying to figure out the specifics. "I am coordinating with their teachers to get an idea here. I need to guide them on how to apply for and write the improvement examinations so that they don't lose an academic year," he says. This has also got Nitheesh, the first Kerala tribal man to earn a PhD degree in Social Work rethink his mentoring strategies. "The trick is to mentor them right from Class XI," he reckons.
So what exactly does he do? Since February 2021, Nitheesh, along with a group of three other people have been identifying tribal students from Wayanad and have been helping them decide their careers and coaching them to crack entrance examinations. So far, they have identified 724 students. They have also got teachers employed with government tribal schools on board - close to 70 of them - who coach a group of around 10 students each. "It is important for tribal children to get good exposure, travel and know what is happening around them. This is the only way to achieve proper representation and uplift them," he says.
Nitheesh also goes a few years back in time to narrate his own tale. "I received my primary education through government schools in Wayanad. Upon completing Class XII, I joined the Rajagiri College of Social Sciences in Kochi to do a BSW degree. This was a whole different world altogether. I was a bad student there who struggled to speak English and make presentations. But it gave me a wider worldview and I even got to go to Sri Lanka for a project. This had helped me massively. I later went on to pursue a master's degree in Social Work from Pondicherry University and later another master's degree from the University of Madras and I eventually did my PhD," he said.
While his life took off, he knew that things weren't smooth for the others from his community. That was when he started working on his project, which he calls 'Gothraprabha'. "The district administration liked the proposal and allotted Rs 5 lakh for this," he says. The others associated with him in the project are Vineetha B, an MA Economics degree holder from the Kattunaikar community, Rahul R, the first MBA holder from the Thachinadan Moopan community and Anisha C G, a member of the Kuruma tribe and a BCom degree holder. They also have an advisory board consisting of academicians and government officials. "Tribal children face a lot of issues in Kerala. Most families do not have land, a lot of them are addicted to alcohol and drugs and not many are educated. So, I am working towards solving one of these issues, which will result in resolving the other issues eventually," he says.
Now, coming back to the XII graders whom he coaches, Nitheesh says, "These children have vague dreams, but most of them do not know how to work towards them. For instance, a lot of them want to study the Teachers' Training Course and be a teacher, but not many know that it doesn't have a lot of value these days. So, this year, we are getting a lot of them to attend good colleges in Kerala and then get them to prepare for entrance examinations to get into central universities," he says. "I am also in talks with student political organisations to work towards an inclusive atmosphere in colleges so that these students do not drop out," he says.
