At 78, Mizoram man enrolls in Standard 9, walks 3km to school daily | India News – Times of India
Born in 1945 at Khuangleng village in Champhai district, Lalringthara lost his father at a young age and was forced to support his mother in the fields to help her eke out a living. Abject poverty and adverse circumstances resulted in multiple breaks in his education, but such was his zeal that he never gave up and resumed studies whenever circumstances allowed him. “Age will not deter me from pursuing knowledge,” he says, while trudging to school across the dirt road every day.
Lalringthara studied in Khuangleng till Class II. There was a break in his studies in 1995, when his mother shifted to New Hruaikawn village. It was only three years later that she managed to get him enrolled in Class V.
But, his dream to continue his studies was shortlived. Under the care of distant relatives with little or no regard for education, Lalringthara worked in the paddy fields to make ends meet. Despite the disruptions in education, he managed to become literate in the Mizo language, and currently serves as a church chowkidar.
When Lalringthara finally passed Class VIII, he went to the local Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan High School in Hruaikawn in April this year for admission. Initially surprised, the school authorities admitted him in Class 9. They also gave him books and uniform.
His desire to learn English made him return to school even at this age, and his ambition is simply to be able to write applications in English and to understand the news telecast on television, officials said
