Roll no 6244. Class IX-C, government co-ed senior secondary school Bhatti mines, Sanjay Colony. That is Madhu Kumari, the Pakistani teenage refugee whose gentle smile indicated a successful culmination to her two-year struggle for education as she sat shy and beaming attending a science lecture.
On Wednesday morning, Madhu finally managed to get admission in the government school near her house. By next week, she will be one among the students when she will get a uniform of her size.
Class IX C is an all-girls section. The girls were taking science lesson, when Madhu joined them. They welcomed her with laughter.
“Thank you,” that is all Madhu could manage to say, feeling nervous and excited as the Delhi government, as per the orders of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, “walked the extra mile to accommodate her desire to pursue study in its school”.
“She is a girl who has struggled for education. She has earned it,” said Advocate Ashok Agarwal as he introduced her to other students. Mr. Agarwal had written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in August after which the matter was highlighted by the media.
“We will befriend her, don't worry. She will adjust here quickly,” the students said jocularly.
Madhu's struggle started when she arrived in Delhi from Pakistan's Punjab some two years ago with her family as they fled religious persecution and settled in Sanjay Colony.
When her case was highlighted by The Hindu on September 7 , External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj intervened and asked Mr. Kejriwal to help Madhu.
