This is an incident which disturbed me very deeply.
The higher secondary admissions are going on for the past few days. Since Monday I have been seeing a mother coming to school regularly for her son’s admission. The boy had secured very low marks and he did find a place in neither the allotment list nor the community quota. She is a very poor, widowed fishmonger. The first time she came into the office (she literally barged in), there was a whiff of foul odour. It was then I noticed her She was dressed in a lungi and a blouse. She was a dark, oily skinned, muscular woman with scales of fishes here and there on her hair and arms. It looked as though she had come straight from the market even without washing herself.
“Ente mon pathaam class vere ivied padichatha. Avanu seat illa enu” (“My son studied here till class X. It seems he doesn’t have a seat”), she said in a high-pitched irritated voice.
The Principal told her mildly that her son had low grades and it was not possible to admit him as his rank was very low in the community waiting list. This provoked the mother and she started arguing saying that he should be admitted as he did secure admission elsewhere. As she was illiterate and ignorant about the admission procedures we thought it was best to follow the principle - silence is golden, if not it would be ‘injurious to our health’.
One of the teachers pacified her and asked to wait for a few more days. Since then, every afternoon she would come after her work and wait patiently outside the office till 4:00pm. Then she would beg for a seat. I felt sorry for her but there was nothing we would do to help her. She would go back weeping and I would feel very miserable. She said her husband had died and she was the sole earning member of her family. She had a son and a daughter who were students.
Last evening the Principal told her to contact the manager of the school as he was the only person who could help her. Today, she back by noon weeping bitterly. She wanted to borrow money from the Principal. It seems the manager wanted a hefty sum (in five figures for Class XI admission!!!!) as donation for her son’s admission. I was shocked to see the mother begging for the money. She was weeping, wiping her tears and talking and sighing. She said that she would return the money by evening. Our Principal was good enough to lend her the sum.
The mother did keep her promise and came back at 3:15pm and returned the sum she had borrowed. She pawned her daughter’s earrings and borrowed the rest from someone to raise this money. She said that in spite of telling the priest her background, he was adamant that this mother had to pay the sum for her son’s admission. I was irritated when I heard that. Majority of priests in our management are children of the fishermen community and they come from very poor backgrounds. It is sad that they forget their past once they become a priest. They forget that their parents too must have wept in front of others for money and they also forget the vow of poverty that they took.
What is the point of managing church school if it is not for the upliftment of the poor and needy????? We need humane priests and not ‘Shylock s’. I am sure that the tears this mother will definitely be a curse this priest.
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