Ramla PK : A school dropout at age 12, now a high school teacher

School Dropout

Ramla is a school dropout at age 12, now a high school teacher from Kerala.

Right through the first 5 years of her schooling, Ramla PK topped her class. But when she was in class 6, she was forced to drop out. Reason? She was married off, at the age of 12.

She belongs to a conservative Muslim family, her chances of recovering her educational career, again in 1989, might have looked slim. After becoming a mom of 4, at 25, how bright would her prospects be?

If people believed it was dim, Ramla proved them wrong. At the age of 45, she has got a master’s degree in Arabic, passed the State Eligibility Test, and is a high school teacher at the government-aided TIM Girls HSS in Nadapuram.

School Teacher

Ramla was unable to imagine her not completing Class 10th. But I didn’t recognize how precisely to renew my schooling,” Ramla says. She then came about to wait for a class by an engineer in government service. He had dropped out of school in Class 4 however resumed schooling at 17, she recalls.

“That was the trigger she was waiting for. If a Class four dropout can turn out to be an engineer, why can’t I who had studied up to Class 6? That question struck me,” she says. Ramla is the only daughter of Khadeeja, who first shared her passion with her step-father, Pokkar Musliyar.

He easily gave permission & she registered for SSLC in private mode. At 26, she passed Class 10 and registered for Afzal-ul-Ulama — a -12 months basis route in Arabic at Islamiya College in Kuttiyadi. She joined the bachelor’s diploma course at the same college, graduating in 2010.

Struggle

“A lot of people supported me. A BSNL staff, who came to my home for registration, told me that who is 18 years old can write SSLC exams. Mumtaz, my neighbor, lent me the textbooks. A few teachers found time to teach me at home. There had been times when they had to move back as their kids wouldn’t let her attend the class” reminisces Ramla, with a smile.

My husband supported me to chase my dreams: Ramla

Eyeing a teacher’s job, she aspired to do a degree program in Language Education (DLed), which turned into equivalent to BEd course at that time. Ramla got in touch with the Government TTI in Nadakkavu. They said that the closing date for application had surpassed. But there was a light of hope. “The government informed me they are ready to take me if the Director of Public Instruction (DPI) permits.

Fortunately, She was given the DPI’s nod,” she says. This course at Nadakkavu, 65 km away, was hard as Ramla had to live in a hostel leaving her 4 kids – girls and boys each — at home away from her. “Those were testing times. But my mom stayed at my residence to look after the kids. The younger ones would go to the Anganwadi while my mom could manage the other.

Professor

Somehow, she completed the course in 2012. On June 4, 2012, Ramla was hired as an Arabic professor at the TIM School. While in the profession, she finished her master’s and cleared SET. Slowly & steadily, she had washed off the tears of her interrupted education. She says her spouse, Kunjabdulla M T, encouraged her wholeheartedly to pursue her goals & dreams.

Her elder son is now employed in Abu Dhabi at the same time as the other 3 are pursuing higher education. Recently, the family had a reason for big cheer as the youngest girl, Hamna, cleared NEET with the 13th rank in the state.