The Story of Onil Bikash Chakma
Onil Bikash Chakma comes from Kuachhuah village and is 19 years old. Onil, quiet and contemplative, spent the early part of his life knowing nothing more than the hard work of cultivation to help support his family.
Life has been challenging as his father would oftentimes spend their harvest money on alcohol instead of providing food on the table and education for his children. Onil’s mother, who suffers from cancer, tries her best to earn money, so her children would be able to get proper education.
He comes from a remote and undeveloped mountain village with non-existent basic government services. A place where there are no hospitals, no schools— hence, most of the people in the village are uneducated. But his mother wants to break that chain and have her children live a better life through education. Because of this dream, Onil made the hard choice to leave his ailing mother to attend classes at Mahabodhi Residential School (MBRS) in Tuichawng.
Onil has worked very hard at school and has proven to be a gifted and talented student ranking first in his class– doing very well in science and math and working to improve his English and language skills. He qualified for the 2018 SOLWW educational scholarship helping to support his class 10 studies and paving the way for Junior College in 2019.
