Mandal education officer takes five govt school SSC toppers from Anantapur district on their first flight journey

Time of India

06-05-2025

Tirupati: "Most of us are from families below the poverty line, and none of us had even boarded a car before in our lives," said T Madhushree, a govt school student who experienced her first flight journey along with four other girls who passed SSC with flying colour.The heart-warming initiative saw five govt school girl students from Beluguppa mandal in Anantapur district take their first flight journey for securing over 550 marks in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations. The district administration, led by collector Dr V Vinod Kumar, and mandal education officer (MEO) Malla Reddy, made this initiative possible.The idea behind this initiative was to motivate girl children to pursue higher education and avoid early marriage, a prevalent issue in the district. By rewarding academic excellence, the administration aimed to inspire other students to strive for better. The five girl students who secured over 550 marks were B Indu (585), Y Eswari (574), T Madhusree (568), C Lavanya (560), and K Archana (556).MEO Malla Reddy had announced before the examinations that girl students who scored 550 or more marks would be taken on a flight journey from Bengaluru to Hyderabad. True to his promise, he accompanied the students on their first-ever flight trip on May 1. During their visit to Hyderabad, they explored major tourist spots such as Charminar and Tank Bund and even travelled in the Metro train for the first time."All the five girl students are from extremely poor families. However, these students displayed their academic excellence in SSC exams. If teachers and headmasters of govt schools come up with innovative measures to drive academic excellence of students, govt school students will outperform others," Malla Reddy told TOI."Malla Reddy sir told us that all students who secure 550 plus scores will get to travel in a flight from Bengaluru to Hyderabad. I have never travelled in a flight and that challenge inspired me to score better in my SSC exams," said Y Eswari, one of the students.T Madhushree, thanked Malla Reddy for inspiring students with the novel initiative. "While many of us were good at our academics, the free flight journey reward definitely inspiring for us to do better. We can now aspire for better educational opportunities in the best of the colleges."