Rekha Chaure with Lakshman Chavan and Akshay Kambley on Tuesday. (Express/Arul Horizon)
Two decades after quitting formal school education, 35-year-old Rekha Chaure got a chance to be a student again, and she sailed through it with flying colours. Rekha, a mother of two, works at a plastic goods shop in the city and scored 72 per cent in SSC exams.
With a full-time job, attending regular classes was next to impossible for Rekha. So, she decided to enroll at the Poona Night School. “Without night schools and flexible schedules for classes, I would never have achieved this in my life,” she said. As a student in Solapur, Rekha said she always wanted to study further and get a degree.
But when her family married her off at an early age, all her dreams came crashing down, until recently, when her husband and daughter pushed her to finish school. On what inspired her, Rekha said, “My daughters are my inspiration.” She added, “This is my second chance at making something of myself, and I will make full use of it.” For two generations, Chavans had been involved in wastepicking, but 45-year-old Laxman does not want the same life for his children. He enrolled himself at Poona Night School and decided to empower his family through education. Read | SSC results 2017: Children of Pune wastepickers a step closer to their dreams. Click here
Having two jobs and starting the day at 6 am, Chavan had little energy left to attend evening classes, but he managed to score 60 per cent in SSC. Unlike his peers, 19-year-old Mahesh Salunkhe could not complete Class X on time. The weak financial condition of his family forced him to take up odd jobs. But, his desire to finish school and have a stable career made him quit his job and give SSC board exams. He has scored 58.8 per cent.
“I could not study well during the initial months of joining the night school, because my job took up most of the time. So, I decided to quit,” said Salunkhe, a student of Abhasaheb Atre Night High School and Junior College. Salunkhe wants to pursue a degree in Humanities.
