24/12/2025
What if your biggest dream was simply to sit in a classroom?
For Droupadi Murmu, born in a small Santhal village in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, even primary education once felt out of reach.
“I come from a poor tribal village in Odisha, where getting even basic education was a dream. But I remained steadfast and became the first person in my village to go to college,” she shared with the media, as reported by Hindustan Times.
She earned her degree from Ramadevi Women’s College in Bhubaneswar, became a junior assistant in Odisha’s irrigation department, taught at a local school — and quietly kept breaking barriers.
Years later, she made history as India’s first tribal President, and only the second woman to hold the country’s highest constitutional office.