Govt. school student from Sivakasi cracks C.A. Final exams

Fighting all challenges of life, from poverty to losing father at a young age, a government school student from Sivakasi, P. Kaangeyan, has cleared Chartered Accountant (CA) Final examinations, one of the toughest examinations in India, the results of which were declared on Monday.

“I had set my eyes to become a CA when my neighbour suggested me to take up the CA examination, noticing the ease with which I was able to solve mathematics problems when I was preparing for my Class X examination. I had to fight all odds to achieve it,” said Mr. Kaangeyan, 24, from Sengamalapatti.

His parents, employed in printing unit and fireworks unit, could only afford government school education to their three children. “My father always encouraged us to study well. He used to say only education could serve our next generations better,” he said. His elder brother did his diploma and younger sister is in Plus Two now.

Mr. Kaangeyan chose Commerce group in Plus Two. His desire helped him pedal a bicycle 25 km up and down to school every day. He stood school first in the group. He was also the first student of Sankaralingapuram Government Higher Secondary School to get centum in Accountancy.

Then, he preferred to join a C.A. Academy in Sivakasi, instead of pursuing graduation in Commerce. “But, all the textbooks in English looked Greek and Latin to me, as my whole schooling was through Tamil medium of instruction. I changed my mind and joined B. Com course in Government Arts and Science College in Sivakasi,” he noted.

It was at the college that his Head of the Department Suresh encouraged him. When an auditor, S. Rathinagiri, came for a pep talk to students at the college, he offered to bear the entire fees for C.A. course to those who secured 50% marks in a model exam he conducted.

Mr. Kaangeyan got the biggest grip towards achieving his goal when he cleared it. Consequently, he joined the CA course at the same academy.

Reproducing the concepts, which he was good at, in English was the biggest hurdle for him. Then, for two months he pursued hard English grammar to suit his needs and that changed his approach to the examination. Within the next few months, he cleared the CA foundation course and then pursued Inter examination.

COVID-19 outbreak was a blessing in disguise for him as he could spend more time to pursue CA Inter examination as college was functioning on online mode. Even as he failed in the first attempt, the family, living a hand-to-mouth existence, suffered a jolt when his father died in a road accident in 2021.

“We were completely shocked. But, my father’s words (on importance of education) kept reverberating in my ears. I mustered all courage to face the exam again and succeeded it,” he said.

He joined an auditor’s office in Chennai to take up articleship. After failing in the the first attempt in CA Final, he wanted to return home. But, by then, his mother had fallen sick and the burden of the family fell on his young shoulders.

“At least, I could survive with ₹8,000 stipend in Chennai. Returning home would only further burden the family,” he said.

He started to take up freelancing in Income Tax returns preparation and GST filing for a score of customers, which kept him staying afloat. Simultaneously, he kept preparing for the examination and finally conquered it in his fourth attempt.

“Whenever I felt I was losing my hope to fear, I kept telling myself that I should become an auditor at any cost, at least to inspire lakhs of government school students. Looking back, it gives me a good feeling (of achievement),” said Mr. Kaangeyan.