Meghalaya Granny Delighted On Clearing Class XII, Had Dropped Out Of School 32 Years Ago

As the class XII board exam results were announced, while some students made headlines with their top scores, others aptly pointed out that marks don’t define you or your success in life.

Amongst this, an extraordinary story has emerged from a remote village in Meghalaya. As per a report in The Hindu, a 50-year old grandmother named Lakyntiew Syiemlieh has cleared her Class 12 humanities board exams, 32 years after dropping out of school. She explained, “I loved literature enough to write poems in the Khasi language. But my inability to fathom mathematics and science made me leave school in Shillong in 1988.”

Talking about her journey, she narrates that her husband had left her for another woman in 2008. To pay her rent, she began teaching the basics of Khasi language to nursery school children in a community run-school based in Umsning Lumumpih village. She earned Rs. 3,000 a month which she used to raise her four children as a single mother. But she desired to go back to school to complete her own education.

She soon decided to reclaim her life and took a leave from her teaching job. For the last year, she went to school proudly dressed in her school uniform while her daughter helped around in the house.

Her fellow classmates were about 30 years younger than her and called her “Mei” which means ‘mother’ in Khasi language. Recalling her experience at school, she said, “We all became great friends, I would attend class, go for field trips, take part in dance competitions, sing with them.”

After many late-night study sessions, while balancing her other responsibilities, she finally cleared the Meghalaya board exams. “I got the third division but I am very happy,” she said. “My children are so thrilled that they started shouting, hugging, and kissing me when the results were declared yesterday. In fact, it was the happiest day of my life.”

A day after the exam results were declared, she announced her graduation and post-graduation plans. She has set her eye on a Bachelor’s degree specializing in traditional Khasi language to “keep it alive”.

She concludes on a positive note saying, “I want to go as far as possible — to show my two granddaughters, single mothers, and many despairing women that there is more to life than issues at the domestic and social levels.”

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