Wayanad: Nearly a year after a devastating landslide wiped out their school and uprooted their lives, Friday was the time to celebrate for students, teachers and parents of the disaster-hit Government Vocational Higher Secondary School, Vellarmala, near Meppadi.

Fighting against all odds, the school's students bagged a 100 per cent pass in the SSLC examination, the result of which was announced on May 9. All 55 students came out with flying colours.

The devastating landslide that hit the Chooralmala-Mundakkal villages in the wee hours of July 31, 2024, had all but erased the school. Of the more than 300 people killed in the disaster, 32 were students of the Vellarmala school. Since then, the school has been functioning in a temporary building of the Government Higher Secondary School, Meppadi. 

Post-landslide, most students went through several counselling sessions before they emerged from the shock. All the students, teachers, and members of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) committee were present at the school when Education Minister V Sivankutti announced the results in Thiruvananthapuram. To mark the success, they hugged each other, sang together, and distributed laddoo. The minister also spoke to the teachers over the phone and congratulated them on the students' stellar performance.

Manoj Aavany, a teacher, called it a victory of collective efforts. "We never thought we could retain the cent per cent victory, which we have been bagging for the past many years," he told Onmanorama. "When we resumed the classes, students were crying after losing friends and families. They were so traumatised, even by noises. The humming of a ceiling fan made them cry," he said. 

"We owe this success to the support of the Education Department, the teachers who taught the students during the study camps from 7 am to 9 pm and the parents who had ensured full support to the school's efforts. We dedicate our victory to the 32 children we lost in the landslide," he said.