Nishad Party to fund education of Gorakhpur teenager who rows herself to school

GORAKHPUR: Nishad Party chief Dr Sanjay Nishad on Sunday promised to bear full education expenses of rural teen Sandhya Sahni, who rows through a flooded river every day to reach school.

To note, a day ago HT had published a news report about the plucky girl who daily rowed a boat in the flooded Rapti for over one km to reach school and get back to her home in Bahrampur village, all alone. Local leaders and media persons also thronged her partially inundated two-storey home.

Sandhya, who belongs to the Nishad (fisher men) community, is a student of class 11 in Ayodhya Das Inter College.

“Due to her exemplary courage and determination to fight all odds, we have named her as “Second Phoolan Devi”. We have adopted the girl and applied for hostel facility in city so that she doesn’t face problems in reaching school. Both the girl and her brother Mangru, who has saved many from drowning in the flood, will also be honoured by the party,” said Dr Sanjay Nishad who also gave Rs 7,000 to the Sandhya and promised all support to the distressed family.

Rotary Club has also decided to honour the teen.

It was a joyous moment for Sandhya and her family. “I never imagined that my daughter

would bring such honour to my family. She wants to study further to get a well paid job in the Railways,” said her father Dileep Sahni. Dileep, a fisherman by caste, is a carpenter by profession and owns a boat which Sandhya uses.

Sandhya, who likes playing badminton and learnt to row a boat from her father, said, “When my teachers and friends

in school saw my story in the newspaper, they felt proud and happy and hugged me. Everybody knows me now as the girl who is so determined to continue studies that she uses a boat to go to school.” With heavy floods, Sandhya’s village has lost road connectivity with the rest of the area and so there is no public or private transport on this route.

Like hundreds , the family has taken shelter on the roof top but frequent rain has added to their woes.