Pavement dweller clears Maharashtra Class 10 exam, aims to study further

MUMBAI: Asma Sheikh, a 17-year-old pavement dweller from Mumbai, has overcome her personal difficulties to clear the Maharashtra Board's Class 10 examination, and her aim now is to study further and secure a good job and home for her parents.


Undeterred by the fact that her father is a 'nimbu pani' (lime juice) vendor earning a paltry sum and that they have to live on a footpath opposite the BMC headquarters near the Press Club here, Shaikh has realised the importance of education and wants to rise higher in life and succeed.

Seeing her father struggling to sustain their livelihood and pay her school fees, she is now determined to provide her family a better life.

Shaikh, who was studying in a girls' school in Dongri area, secured 40 per cent marks in the Maharashtra Board's Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination, the results of which were recently announced.

Her brother has cleared his Class 6 exams from a school at Sandhrust Road.

Talking to PTI, Shaikh said she has been living on the footpath since her birth. "Even my grandfather lived here. We never managed to get a house of our own," she said.

The coronavirus-enforced lockdown adversely affected her father Salim Shaikh's lime juice business and he had to work as a porter to make their ends meet.

"My father earned about Rs 500after selling lime juice for two days. But he paid the school fees regularly," she said, adding that their financial condition did not discourage her from studying.

"I took tuitions for six months in Class 10. Only those fees (of tuition classes) are pending. Earlier, whenever I had difficulty in understanding some subjects, I would seek help of those who come to the Press Club," she said.

Shaikh said she has now set a goal of "educating myself to get a good job and buy a home for my parents".

When the news of her achievement reached former MP from south Mumbai Milind Deora, he got in touch with her and spoke to the principal of K C College here for her higher education.

"Milind sir is lending me support. He told me to enroll myself for a computer course. I now have to fill an online form for admission to Class 11," she said, adding that she is quite excited about going to college.

"I have learnt that education is important, otherwise you are nobody. I am quite interested in political science," she said.

Deora said Shaikh reminds him of his late father (Congress leader Murli Deora) who also grew up studying on a Mumbai footpath, under a streetlight.

"She is entitled to a life of dignity and opportunity. I thank the management of K C College for paying heed to my request," the Congress leader said.