Cracking a PSC exam, or any competitive exam, on the first attempt is far from simple. Especially for those from low-income families. Selvakumari S, a 28-year-old plantation worker, and daughter of a cardamom plantation worker have achieved this milestone.
Selvakumari, who belongs from Chottupara village near Vandiperiyar, used to work at the cardamom plantation with her mother. They were abandoned by her husband years before.
She intended to provide as much financial support to her mother as possible because she had two younger sisters who were now married. As a result, whenever she returned to Chottupara for the vacations, she used to accompany her mother to the plantation.
She still lives in a one-room house built on a one-cent plot in Chottupara with her mother and grandmother. Despite these challenges, Selvakumari received first place in her MPhil and a government post shortly after completing her studies.
She earned her graduation in mathematics from Government Women’s College in Thiruvananthapuram after completing her Plus two at a school in Tamil Nadu. Even though her capacity to speak in Malayalam caused some of her classmates to mock her. But her desire to work for the government pushed her to ignore the comments.
