KATAPPANA: 55-year-old Jabakani wanted to pass class 10 to resume her position as ‘Mate’ in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Jabakani, wife of Swami Das, a former employee of Upputhara Peermade Tea Company Laundry Division, passed the exam with flying colours when the results of the Literacy Mission's 10th class equivalency exam came last Monday.

She got A+ for Malayalam despite being of Tamil origin. A grade in Hindi and Social Science and B+ for other subjects. She hopes to return to ‘Mate’ post. While working as a ‘Mate’ since 2003, she lost the post in January, 2021 as the Centre introduced the requirement of passing 10th standard for the workers in the post. With that, Jabakani became a normal worker. However, she badly wanted to regain her post, so she studied hard and passed the exam.

Although she wished to rewrite the exam when she failed in 1988, the situations were not favourable. She got married and then started working at the estate along with her husband. When the estate closed and her husband became ill, she started working under MGNREGS. Her husband, children and grand children supported her in her studies. Jabakani is also active in politics and has contested in panchayat elections. Her next aim is to pass plus two exam