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Persistence, Not Failure, Defines Us As Learners
April 2019
Lakshmipriya, a 17-year-old girl from Guptapada, Odisha, passed the 10thstandard exams in March 2018 after failing them on her first trial. Her mother, along with Amrita SeRVe village coordinator, Ashit Patnaik, had inspired her to try again, instilling in her the belief that persistence is more powerful than failure. Not only that, but she could get help with her studies. Lakshmipriya became super motivated.
Amrita CREATE organizes tuition teaching for school children in every Amrita SeRVe village. In Guptapada, several other 10thstandard dropout students were similarly inspired by Ashit to try again after he encouraged each one.
About six months before the exams, a study group was formed for students dedicated to passing the exams. Manorajan Mohanti, Bachelor of Commerce and Statistics, took up the responsibility of offering tuition teaching for two hours per day, six days a week while Ashit held awareness sessions about overcoming obstacles when learning becomes difficult.
The group of seven girls and six boys gathered in a tuition center in the evenings to study history, maths, science, the Odia-language and Hindi. For Lakshmipriya, whose goal is to become a nurse, passing the exams would enable her to continue to the next standard for further studies. “Helping others fills my heart,” she expressed about this compelling desire. Indeed, each student had a dream in mind when stepping into the classroom: to become an engineer, a teacher, a nurse. One realization connected the whole tuition group: persistence, not failure, defined them as learners.
In March 2018 all 13 of these students passed the 10thstandard exams.