The Class 10 exams will start today, with more than 16 lakh students expected to sit them. Among them is 32-year-old Rehnuma Siddiqui, a mother-of-four.
Rehnuma's story
Rehnuma was just 16 years old when she passed Class 9 and started preparing for the board exams. However, her father returned from Saudi Arabia and the family informed her that she was to be married.
Rehnuma knew that her family would not allow her to pursue her studies but her strong desire made her fill the form for Class 10 exams from a private institution. Seeing her studying all the time, her family found out that she had applied for the exam and immediately fixed her wedding to a wealthy businessman from Chennai.
Talking to The Free Press Journal, Rehnuma said, “I come from a community where girls are not educated and after a certain age they are married off. I tried convincing my parents to let me complete my exam as it was just a matter of two months. They assured me that my in-laws would let me visit Mumbai to write the exams.”
On Christmas 2008 Rehnuma was married off and she shifted to Chennai. Once her married life started, she was made to leave her education and focus on domestic chores. Soon she gave birth to her first son and until the birth of her fourth, her entire life was focused around kids and home.
Misunderstandings grew between the couple as Rehnuma again expressed her desire to study. She also faced physical violence from her husband as well as her brother-in-law. Rehnuma then decided to get seperated and left her house to complete her education.
Rehnuma meets Safal Vikas Welfare Society
In September last year, she shifted back with her family in Mumbai who were hesitant to allow their married daughter to complete her studies while living separated from her husband. With a loss of confidence and no way forward, she met Nisar Ali, who carries out various social works through his organisation Safal Vikas Welfare Society. Ali counselled her to boost her confidence and her family to allow her studies.
"My parents are still not supportive of my studies. They think that with time they will convince me to shift back with my husband but this time I am adamant on completing my studies and being self-dependent. Even if I have to beg for alms throughout my life, I will not go back to that family, which thinks that women are just meant to conceive children," she said.
