Exams are approaching and as much as we support extracurricular activity and talk about the overall development of a child, we simply cannot ignore this necessary evil.

All over the world, colleges give final year school students conditional offers based on grades achieved, be it A levels, SATs or Board exams.

There are so many applications per university place that most Universities do not look at mark sheets below 90%. How can our slum children compete?

6 of our children this year will be sitting their finals in three weeks’ time. As each year progresses and more and more of our children reach this stage, it weighs heavily on us as to what their future will be.

So we have started to think creatively.

Vineet wants to be an actor. He has not had a leading role in his school play. He writes poetry. His poetry almost got him expelled as people misunderstood his witty social commentary and took it out of context.  So, we will enrol him in a film making course, and let him write his own screen play, direct it and star in it. This film will be his application to higher learning.

As for the other children,each must find a path they can travel. It’s never easy, even from backgrounds of privilege where nepotism is still a strong factor. Our children will just have to try harder which I suppose will make each success they achieve a little sweeter.

Education does not simply mean book learning, it is preparation for life. At Aasraa our most important challenge ahead is preparing our children for their futures. While we will do our best to prepare children for exams, we are aware that academically, we will always be playing off the back foot by pure definition of where our children come from. We have to look at various different trainee programs and skills training programs… and if we don’t find what we need for the kids, perhaps we’ll just start one of our own. Watch this space.

Shaila Brijnath