In the ever-depressing news cycles, we rarely get to know an uplifting story first hand. Here is one of those. The night before Higher Secondary (West Bengal Govt. state-wide public exam after 12th grade) Math exam Basir Ahmed’s landlord of their one room shanty ‘house’ threw out his family with all of their belongings out to the street because his cycle-rickshaw driver father could not pay two month’s rent. Basir lives in the outskirts of Kolkata with his parents and brother in a single room. His thirst for knowledge and education made him setup his little study corner under the bed next to the cooking area. To allow him to sit comfortably, he had to lift the bed by putting a few bricks under its stands. All his books and study materials were also thrown out with the rest of his family’s belongings. Two years back Basir achieved 75% in Madhyamik (West Bengal Govt. state-wide secondary public exam after 10th grade), with letter marks (more than 80% marks) in Maths. This was a great motivation to him to go to higher studies. The children in his community routinely end studies at lower grades to join the low-level unskilled workforce to augment the family income. The pressure on Basir to do the same was no exception. However, he was given a job to teach little kids in the Promise school in Nababpur while studying for his Higher Secondary exam. For Basir the syllabus and the teachers of the local school he attended were not enough. He started reading and solving problems from college level books like Resnik & Halliday for Physics and calculus in Maths. He wanted to be an engineer like millions of his peers in India but without the financial, social and family support, most of the children, he will compete, typically enjoy. Last week the higher secondary exam result was announced and he got 70% marks with letter in Physics and Maths. The standards for Secondary and Higher Secondary exams vary widely. That is why his performance in Higher Secondary is much better than his performance in Secondary. This shows a remarkable positive trend in his education. He also took the West Bengal Joint Entrance exam which is a common admission test for most of the Engineering, Medical and technological colleges in the state. He ranked 5,006. Just to put that number in perspective, every year few hundred thousand students take that exam for about 34,000 seats in the state schools. That puts him in 85% percentile mark. To prepare for this exam students routinely take special coaching classes spending little fortunes. Needless to say, Basir could not afford any such coaching classes. He hopes that he will be able to get admission in one of the better engineering colleges for Computer Science. Because of his financial situation, his academic fees will possibly be waived but he still needs to get a scholarship or aid to support himself and the family during the next 4 years of study. Basir has been a student of Promise Worldwide since 1st grade. Salim Mondal, Promise’s project director in Kolkata has been his teacher and mentor throughout this journey. He and some other teachers coached Basir for his Joint Exam as well. Remember the predicament night before his Math’s exam! Salim’s personal intervention saved Basir and his family from being homeless that night. Jaya has taken a personal interest in Basir’s well being and has been a champion for his cause in and out of Promise. Today I am sure Promise and all involved in his success feel proud of his achievements. What is more important, his example is a guiding light in his community and among the students in Promise school. We are looking forward to his continuous success and eventually be a responsible member of his community to pay forward to pave paths for more such stories.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Jun 2013 18:28:15 +0000
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