Assistant Professor Dangi Soren is among the select few bitten by the education bug. “I would love remaining a learner forever,” she says with a smile.
The story of Kolhan University’s new Sanskrit faculty, though, is much more inspiring than a mere tale of learning.
Dangi Soren did her primary and middle schooling in the vernacular — Bengali and Santhali — from remote villages. In fact, she first attended English medium in high school, in Jamshedpur, from where she cleared her Class X and XII board exams, the latter in the Science stream.
Soon after, she got married and shifted to New Delhi, where her husband Sunil Murmu worked. She had two children and lived as a homemaker for a few years before the family returned to Jharkhand in 2008.
But when the couple tried to get the children admitted to reputed schools, they realised that educational institutes expected the parents to be somewhat educated too — at least graduates.
Murmu was an Assistant Professor at Singhbhum College, Chandil Kolhan University, but Soren had just done high school. She became determined to extend her education.
With her husband promising guidance in Sanskrit, a subject he was well versed with, she restarted her education after a hiatus of several years.
She enrolled for a Bachelor’s degree in Sanskrit at Mahila College, Chaibasa, where she emerged a topper. She was nominated by Jharkhand’s Governor to the Kolhan University Senate, where she represented the students for three years.
Thereafter, Soren completed her MA in Sanskrit with flying colours, bagging several medals, participating in seminars and symposiums, and presenting research papers.
Now 37 years old, Soren has qualified for the University Grants Commission’s National Eligibility Test and doctorate entrance exams, and says, “After doing my PhD, I want to go for a DLitt on Sanskrit-Santhali ‘interlinks’.”
Ask her about her appointment to varsity by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission a couple of weeks ago, and she laughs about what she calls “a Santhali girl teaching Sanskrit to postgraduate students.” Dangi Soren remains a true scholar.
