Telangana: KTR lauds 12-yr-old boy delivering newspapers to support his family, education

Telangana Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) took to Twitter to hail the efforts of a 12-year-old boy from Jagital who was seen delivering newspapers to ease financial pressure off his parents and support his own academics. 

The 43-second video of the child, Sri Prakash, a class six student at a government school, shows him confidently asserting that there is nothing wrong with working while studying. In the video, Sri Prakash is stopped by a passer-by, while he is on one of his delivery sprees and questioned as to why he was working rather than learning at such a young age. “If I do this now, it will be valuable for me later,” the class six student responds sharply.

Posting the video on Twitter, Minister Rama Rao expressed how he loved the 12-year-old's confidence. The caption on KTR's post read, “Loved this video from Jagtial Town This young lad a Govt school student called Jai Prakash; loved his confidence, composure and clarity of thought & expression He says what’s wrong in working while studying & goes on to say it’ll keep him in good stead in future. (sic)" 

Sri Prakash told local community portal TeluguOne Cinema that he has worked as a paperboy since he was in the third grade. Pratap Veer, his father, is a driver, while Anusha, his mother, owns a ladies' emporium. His mother said that her son chose to work for himself and pay for all of his costs.

Sri Prakash said he is inspired by former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam who started as a paperboy when he was ten years old. Sai Krishna (14), Sri Prakash's younger brother, also works as a paperboy.

(Image: @KTRTRS/Twitter)