Success Stories

Success Story: Anuradha Chauhan

Agarkar Night School

The story of Anuradha Chauhan will inspire you more than you can imagine.

Anuradha has had a hard life: She married in 2005, but was widowed within one year of her marriage. By then she had a new-born baby to care for, and so she moved back to her parental home. Her parents’ house is a small 10ft by 10ft room in a slum in Worli, which accommodates 9 of Anuradha’s family members. To supplement the family income, Anuradha took up work as a house maid.

In the midst of all these extreme challenges, school was the last thing on Anuradha’s mind. As fate would have it, she one day happened to meet Mr.Patil, headmaster of Agarkar Night School, who sensed that Anuradha was gifted, and who motivated her to enrol at his night school and continue her education.

Anuradha’s parents also supported her in her decision to return to school, and she was admitted to Std.10. Although there would be times she arrived late to class after being held up with her housemaid work, the teachers at Agarkar Night School were understanding and accommodating. They say they could see she was a sharp and intelligent student who had promise of doing extremely well if supported.

Anuradha exceeded all expectations this year when she achieved an outstanding 91% in her SSC exam. She is the first student from Masoom-supported night schools to ever appear on the SSC Merit List.

“I really appreciate the kind of support I received during my SSC preparation,” she says, “The extra classes, reference guides and study notes provided by Masoom were invaluable to me. The Masoom Team members really motivated me and I got the confidence to do my best.”

Anuradha is now on the course of a bright future. She has taken admission to Agarkar Night Junior College in the Commerce stream.

“I feel I have been able to change not only my own life but also my daughter’s,” she concludes.

Success Story: Asmabi Sheikh

Meenatai Kurude Night School

Asmabi Sheikh comes from a modest background and lives in Wadala with her family: Father, Yunus, who works as a driver and mother, Nazma, who is a housewife. She has a younger brother Aasuf Sheikh who studies in Std. 8. The annual income of her family is a meager Rs.60,000 p.a. Although circumstances have put Asmabi under the ‘lower socio-economic’ category, she has still outdone all norms of her background, to achieve incredible success in her academics.

Asmabi’s story is one of extreme perseverance – she would wake up daily at 4 a.m. to study. She attributes her success to her family, especially her mother, who supported her need for time and space to study, even in a tiny home. Asmabi also thanks her school principal and teachers for inspiring her to achieve her best. The additional support she received from Masoom helped push her further: the extra Sunday classes did wonders for her performance, especially to dispel her fears in the subjects of Maths and Science. Asmabi diligently attended the extra classes, and the results of her hard work have shown: at an overall 83.45% SSC score, by which she topped her school.

A quote from Asmabi: “I’m very grateful for the coaching given to SSC students, especially the prelims conducted by Masoom. I had a big fear of Science, but my teacher helped me overcome it. The Career Guidance Camp was also very interesting and useful.”

Asmabi has now enrolled at Khalsa College in the Science stream.