This 63-year-old from Ernakulam has Plus Two exams to clear and many dreams to chase

Forced to drop out of school, Sakeena resumed her studies five years ago

Sakeena A.S. was in Class 5 when she was pulled out of school owing to family circumstances. Hardly six years later, she was married off. For many years since then, her identity was that of a homemaker and a mother of four.

Then about five years ago, when she was 58, Ms. Sakeena, a resident of Manjummel, stumbled upon a newspaper report about the Kerala State Literacy Mission’s equivalent courses that helped people learn irrespective of their age. “I registered straightaway with the Eloor study centre and cleared the seventh and 10th equivalent courses. Now, I am set to appear for the higher secondary equivalent course in humanities next week,” she said.

She had the backing of all her four children, who knew that their mother had loved to learn but had been denied that opportunity earlier. Ms. Sakeena had ensured that her daughter and three sons were well-educated.

She cleared the 10th equivalent course in 2019, but the pandemic delayed her pursuit of higher studies. But, this year she was back to offline classes and is now confident of clearing the impending higher secondary examination.

Resuming her studies also boosted Ms. Sakeena’s confidence as she interacted more with society and gave expression to other long-cherished dreams. She has since directed a short film and penned 12 songs, four of which have video adaptions.

“The film was about a gang-raped woman being asked about the religion of her child during school admission. She responds that her child could claim any religion since among those who raped her were men from all religions. I want to send out a message about the irrelevance of caste and religion,” said Ms. Sakeena.

Her works have been uploaded on YouTube. She dreams of doing more creative work, including a telefilm based on the theme of her short film. She also does not plan to stop her studies with higher secondary. “I want to pursue B.A. in Malayalam and, if health permits, to go on studying as much I can,” she said.