S. Sreemathy made history when she was admitted to Tirunelveli Government Medical College for an MBBS course. She is the first person from her Irula tribal community to study medicine and become a doctor.
She believes that her accomplishment will inspire other members of the community to pursue their dreams of working in professions of their choice.
Talking to IANS, the 20-year-old whose father is a teacher and mother a plantation worker said: “Since I was a child in primary school, I wanted to become a doctor and nothing but a doctor. I pursued my dreams, worked hard, and finally am here.”
The Irula community girl from Tamil Nadu’s The Nilgiris district stated that she hoped to become a paediatrician after completing her MBBS.
The proud girl stated that she aspires to be a role model for Adivasi tribal students in The Nilgiris district as well as tribal students throughout the state.
According to Sreemathy, financial insecurity and a lack of policy awareness are the reasons why students from tribal communities are not pursuing their dreams of becoming doctors, engineers, scientists, lawyers, or journalists.
Due to man-animal conflict and several instances of wild elephants and other animals invading residential areas, students, particularly those from tribal belts, are unable to attend classes.
The Irualar community and its plight have been depicted in detail in the award-winning movie “Jai Bhim” in which Tamil superstar Suriya donned the role of activist lawyer turned judge, Justice Chandru.
