Congratulations to our 12th standard students who delivered some fantastic results!
The past two years have been an immense challenge to both our students and their teachers with education severely disrupted by the pandemic and lockdowns. Despite this, we are so proud of our Rehab Center students who delivered a 100% pass rate closely followed by 93% passes for our Balbhavan (slum school) students.
This is an amazing feat when you consider the obstacles the 32 students from our Balbhavan and 11 from our Rehab Center faced in one of the most significant years of their schooling. Despite limited access to technology, our staff continued to provide online classes and homework to them, and around 200 students in our Rehab Center and 700 in our Balbhavan. We also provided school fees, books and educational material and supporters such as Arti Vakil from Wishing Well Foundation provided additional classes and support to help our students excel.
Of course, it all comes down to the individual children who overcame the emotional and practical disruptions to remain focused and committed to their learning. This includes Simran from our Paris Balbhavan who attained 87% in Commerce, ranking her first in Snehalaya followed by Ajay from Dr Kalam Balbhavan ranking second with 83% and Hema and Sayyad tying with 82% to rank third. In our Rehab Center, Mayur achieved 74% in Science, Vaishnavi, Tanjila and Rutik received 73% in Arts and Mangal and Mayuri received 72% also in Arts.
For Simran in particular, this is an extra impressive result, as she is the first member of her family to have completed higher secondary education, providing inspiration to them and others. Simran’s family has long struggled with making ends meet. Her father and mother both work as laborers and never seem to have enough money to care for their kids and Simran was only able to complete her education by earning while she learned.
Always a bright girl, her life changed when she was admitted to our Balbhavan where she received additional support in our after-school classes. A topper throughout, Simran was determined to better her score at every step and achieve perfect marks in Class 12, although the COVID pandemic did not make it easy for her.
“Online classes via mobile phones were very tough, especially where I live where the internet connectivity is very bad. But our Balbhavan teachers were patient and helped us throughout, answering our queries on Whatsapp, taking calls to explain the concepts and providing all the extra support we needed. The lack of physical classes was acutely felt and when schools reopened for a short time from February, we all were determined to make the best of the time we had to completely prepare to appear for the exam in May,” she shares.
Her family’s support was also vital, as she explains: “They did not understand much since no one in my family has ever completed their higher education. But they supported my dreams and gave me the space and time to study. They still don’t fully understand what I have achieved but are happy and proud of me.”
Looking forward, Simran has her eyes set on her dream of working in banking so she can help her family.
We are incredibly proud and committed to continuing to support Simran and all our 12 std graduates in pursuing their dreams and building on their outstanding achievements this year. Also, while some colleges are slowly starting to reopen their doors, many remain closed as do schools, so we are thankful to our staff and children who have risen to the challenge and adapted their learning to help all of our children continue their education in this challenging world we all currently find ourselves living in.
