Behind every soldier is a group of silent soldiers who silently sign a pact to dedicate their whole life to the country. These silent soldiers are the family of every defense personnel – parents, siblings, children and most importantly, their wives.
While the whole country mourns losing a soldier, it is their family that is left broken to live with a lifetime of pain, sorrow, and grief. After mourning for a while, we forget the sacrifice of these brave soldiers. But their families are left alone to battle with a lifetime of emotional and financial trauma given by our merciless and selfish society.
One such family is of a martyred soldier Sambhaji Kadam.
The wife of the martyred soldier, Sheetal Kadam, recently expressed her agony and helplessness as a school failed at grant admission to her daughter. The daughter who lost her father in saving our country. As per Sheetal Kadam, a school in Nanded in Maharashtra has refused to grant admission to her daughter despite a letter from the district Sainik Welfare Office.
Sheetal Kadam lost her husband when Sambhaji Kadam was killed in an operation in the Nagrota sector in Jammu district in November 2016.
While sharing the details how the school refused to grant admission for Class 1 to her daughter, Tejaswini, she mentioned:
“I have been visiting the school since the last 15 days, but they have refused admission to my daughter though I am ready to pay fees and also have a letter from the Sainik Welfare Office.”
Taking the matter seriously, Education Officer Prashant Digraskar shared with reporters that they will check the facts and recommend cancellation of recognition of the school if needed.
Recalling how her husband sacrificed his life for the country, the aggrieved wife claimed that she felt insulted by the school staff when she approached them.
Helpless Sheetal shared her agony wth the media. She mentioned even after being a wife of a martyr, there has been no investigation agains the authorities how they mistreated them. She further added that her husband sacrificed his life for nothing. His sacrifice has been wasted.
Officials in the Sainik Welfare Office said they had issued a letter to the school as well as the education department of the Zilla Parishad asking them to grant admission to the ward of the martyred soldier:
“We will summon officials of the school if they are found to have ignored our letter.”
Kadam claimed that the letter was rejected at the reception counter of the school.
Stating a Government Resolution (GR), Nanded Zilla Parishad education officer said schools cannot reject admissions to the sons and daughters of martyred soldiers.
While sharing the details of the cases, Nanded district guardian minister Ashok Chavan shared:
“I have come to know about the admission issue of Tejaswini Kadam. Now the Nagarjuna Public School has come forward to give admission to her. I am checking the admission norms and the stand of the Dnyan Mata School. We will take action accordingly,”
At IFOHER, we believe it is a shame for any society that puts a family of any martyr through so much of agony and helplessness. As we stand with this courageous mother and daughter, we hope authorities would soon wake up and take accountability for their irresponsible behavior.
If the helplessness of this wife and mother doesn’t bother our society, then it is high time that we ask ourselves – Are we worth our soldiers’ selfless sacrifice?