The year 2018 holds immense significance for Sushila Bakoriya as she will complete her graduation in Arts. However more than six years back, she had never expected that one day she would hold a degree certificate in her hand.
Sushila lives at Amrod near Bhopal. In her village, she studied in the government school until the eighth grade. But her village did not offer any opportunity for higher education, and hence she was confined to the small piece of farm-land owned by her family. “During the Kharif season, we grow soybeans and during the rabi season, it is wheat”, she says. But cultivating wheat requires a lot of water and owing to the severe water shortage her family had to stop its cultivation.
“But this stopped our income, and I had to work as a labourer on others’ farms. It continued for three years, and finally I told my father that I want to study further”, she recalls. Her father did not approve of her plans, but her stubbornness and persistence overcame his restrictions.
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| Sushila Bakoriya |
“I got admitted to a school that was very far from my village. The only mode of transport was the bus. But there was a problem”. The bus for her village used to leave 15 minutes before the end of the last lecture in school. “The next bus was after two hours, and it made me reach home very late. Hence, I requested my teacher to permit me to leave early.”
“But the teacher was very rude. She felt I was not serious towards education. Finally, I had to quit this school. I was sure that I had lost the opportunity of completing my education.”
However, things changed after a year when a friend told her about the Second Chance Program. And after obtaining the necessary details, she enrolled herself as a student. The year was 2012, four years after she had left school. “It was difficult for the first couple of months. But I thank the teachers for helping me overcome the initial fear”, she says.
Sushila also gives credit to her friends and colleagues in the classroom who inspired her to study. “The group activities helped us bond with each other. Apart from learning, we understood each others’ background, shared many things, and our friendship deepened.”
So, what was the most prominent takeaway for her from the program? She thinks for a while, smiles and says, “I could speak in public and voice my opinion. After completing my 10th grade, I went to the hospital at Bairagadh and asked them to train me for three months so that I could work as a nurse.”
The hospital agreed and paid her a salary of nine hundred rupees for the first three months and then raised it to one thousand five hundred rupees after making her permanent at the job. But she did not stop here. She enrolled herself in the government college for 11th and 12th, and her job ensured that she could pay the fees by herself.
“My father was delighted to see that I was handling my finances. It helped him changed his mind, and he assured me of his support for my higher education”, she says with a smile.
Sushila passed her 12th grade in 2015. Based on her experience, she got a job at Mahi Hospital in Bhopal, and they offered her a salary of five thousand rupees. In the same year, she secured admission in a degree college for her B.A and she will be a graduate this year.
“The Second Chance Program was a turning point in my life. It came to me when I had lost hope and had never thought that I would one day become a degree holder”, she says with pride.
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