Juhi Kore is a Master’s degree graduate from Oxford University where she studied Comparative Social Politics. She posted a lengthy note on LinkedIn upon her graduation which helped in showing us the reality of several underprivileged classes in our country.
Juhi’s maternal grandfather is the inspiration behind her taking education seriously in her life because his journey to education was a rocky one.
Born in a village in rural Maharashtra to a lower-caste family, her grandfather was expected to support the family at an age where he should have attended school.
“In 1947, the year India was declared a free and independent country, not every citizen was allowed to live a free and independent life. One of those individuals was a young school-aged boy who belonged to a family of the lowest caste, in a rural village in Maharashtra. Despite being a school-aged boy, his family did not want him to attend school for two primary reasons: as the eldest of 4, he needed to work on a farm so his family could earn enough food; and his parents were afraid of how he might be treated by the students and teachers alike.”
However, her grandfather was a determined soul. He used to work on the farm at 3 AM so that he could go to school in the morning. But to reach the school, he had to walk for 1.5 hours without decent footwear. When he finally arrived, he wasn’t allowed to sit in class.
“That determined young boy made a deal with his parents to work on the farm from 3 AM, before anyone else was awake, and to go to school for the second half of the morning. However, unfortunately for him, his parents’ second fear came true: after a 1.5-hour walk to school, without any decent footwear, he wasn’t even allowed to sit inside the classroom.”
Since farming didn’t pay him money but only helped him get food, he borrowed books and studied under a lamp post late into the night. Despite facing bullying from upper-caste classmates and teachers, he outranked his peers when it came to performance in class.
“Since his farm work didn’t pay in money, only food, he would borrow old books from older similarly ‘outcast’ (scheduled caste) students and study under the village’s only lamp post late into the night. Despite all the bullying from his upper caste peers, discrimination from his upper caste teachers, and not being allowed to sit inside the classroom, his determination and resolve led to him not simply passing his exams, but outranking all his classmates!”
The principal of his school realized his potential and decided to fund her grandfather’s education and living expenses.
“The boy went on to learn English, move to the city of dreams (Bombay), get his Bachelor’s in Law (while working full-time as a cleaner in a government building) and many years later, attained his Master’s aged 60, after retiring as a high-level government official (in that same building). I’m so proud of that boy, my maternal grandfather, for instilling the importance of education in me, as I proudly announce: I have graduated with my Master’s from the University of Oxford!” Juni concluded.
You may read her entire post here.
Juhi’s post inspired several people online, some of whom went on to share similar stories of their grandfathers. Have a look:
Maybe a lot of us have opportunities today because our forefathers and foremothers fought the hard fight.