Forget the Forbes ’30 under 30′ and ’40 under 40′ lists. People across the world have proved time and again that age is just a number and it’s never too late to achieve something, especially when it comes to education.
Prasad Jambhale, a software engineer who hails from Mumbai, shared the inspiring story of his mother who cleared the class 10 exams after 37 years on LinkedIn.
At the age of 16, his mother, Kalpana, had to give up her education to support her family after the death of her father. As she started working at a young age, completing her education seemed like a distant dream. But recently, she was at a government school for some work and a teacher informed her that those who left their education incomplete can reappear for the SSC exam under a government scheme.
“The story goes back when my mother was of the age 16 years, her father died and the financial crisis followed, to ensure that her siblings continue their education, she had to quit the education and start working. Now in the present, last year my mother was at a govt school where she had some work, a teacher asked her about her education and after knowing that she didn’t clear SSC she informed my mother that there’s a new govt scheme where the people who have not completed their SSC now can reappear. The cost of offline and online training, study materials all were given free of cost by government.”
So, she started going back to school in December 2021 and her entire family was unaware of it, even those who stayed under the same roof! She attended a night school and informed her family that she is merely going for a walk.
“And then she started going back to school since last December 2021, kept it as a secret. As I stay in Ireland, I came to know about it just recently when I was about to get married before her exams. Whenever I was in Ireland and used to call during Indian night-time, I used to ask where’s mom? And I was told that she has gone for a walk, I thought that’s odd that she got interested into walks. Little did I know that she was attending night school. She even managed to keep this secret hidden for a month from my father and brother, who stay under the same roof.”
One day, when Prasad was back home from Ireland, his mother showed him her notebooks. He was astonished to find how well she was performing in English and Algebra.
“Her days, started with learning all the lessons from SSC curriculum, one day when I was back in India, she showed me her notebook and I was amazed to see how good she was in Algebra and English. She also showed me photos that how their group of people who left education are now celebrated, now that they have decided to resume.”
“Even after so many years she was able to grasp different learning, and not just that, but was a brilliant student in her batch. And to tell you, her exams were in March and my marriage was in February she managed to do all the multitasking needed.”
The wonder woman not just passed her class 10 exam, but scored a whopping 79.60%, all this at the age of 53!
Kudos to her for setting such a wonderful example!