First 'Kani' tribe girl to attend college from her village in Tamil Nadu

Abhinaya Ayyappan becomes the first girl from the Kani tribe in her village to attend college. Due to the efforts of her and her father, she got admission in Rani Anna Government Arts College to study BA (History).

Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu): An 18-year-old Abhinaya Ayyappan is the first girl from the Kani tribe from Injikuzhi village to have accomplished the feat of attending a college and pursuing graduation in Tirunelveli of Tamil Nadu. Injikuzhi is a hilly village in a dense forest about 10 km from the Papanasam-Karaiyar dam. There are eight families of the 'Kani' tribe staying in this village. Abhinaya is the daughter of Ayyappan and Mallika, who live here.

The village does not have any telecommunication facilities such as internet and telephone. Abhinaya aspires to become a graduate and has stayed in a hostel in the Tirunelveli city area from Class I to Class XII. Last year, she applied to the Government Degree College in Tirunelveli, but she didn't get a seat. Then she returned to her tribal village as she did not have the money to stay in the city.

She had applied to various arts and science colleges with the intention of joining a college this year. So her father, Ayyappan, went to the neighboring village every day where the signal was available for his cell phone and used to wait there so his daughter could get a call from the colleges. As a result of Ayyappan's waiting, Abhinaya got admission in the Rani Anna Government Arts College to study BA (History).

Abhinaya said, "We don't have any basic amenities in our village. My father used to walk around 20 km every day to sell things like bananas, tubers, pepper and honey in our hill village. I finished my schooling with the money I got from him. I study well and make my dad proud".