Shreeram Hegde, a student of 2nd year MSW at SDM College has been in the mainstream news for his uniquely inspiring story of attending online classes during COVID-19 lockdown. SDM College Ujire has been conducting online classes for all courses during the lockdown, but Shreeram Hegde had it a little harder than the rest owing to the complete lack of internet availability in his village Bakkal in Sirsi taluk.
To cope with the issue, Hegde travels a kilometer from his home every morning and afternoon, treks up a hill, and climbs up a tree where his phone finally blinks alive with internet availability. He attends three online classes every day perched upon a marked branch of the tree. One of his teachers, Suveer Jain happened to notice the canopy around him which brought his story to the limelight. The inspiring story of the rural boy’s persistence against technological lack in his village has been circulating on social media for over a week.