Lucky to be back to school

CHENNAI: Appu (15), a resident of Samanthipoo Colony, Vasarpadi, dropped out of Class 9 from St Gabrial Higher Secondary School, Broadway, due to ill-treatment from his teachers. He then joined the workforce. Thanks to efforts taken by the NGO, Slum Children Sports Talent Education Development Society, he is enrolling again into a Chennai school this academic year.Says a happy Appu, “I am a very quite boy in class, I do not talk much to everybody, but my teacher at St Gaberial did not like me very much. When I try to sit in the front  bench, she always asked me to go and sit in the back bench. I come from Samanthipoo Colony, which most people think are full of rowdies and goondas. So, she somehow perceived that I am also like that. At every opportunity, it was pointed out.”After dropping out of school, Appu worked in one of the city’s malls in the stores department, as a loading and unloading staff for about a year. His lucky break came when he was spotted by the NGO in Vasarpadi that used football to engage children and get them back to school.Appu is happy that he is going back to school. He says, “I am happy that I got in touch with this NGO. They taught me the importance of education and have put some sense into my head. I am looking forward to studying well and doing well in life.”Appu’s father is a daily wage labourer and his mother is a domestic worker. Appu hopes that someday he would make his parents proud.