After a break from our Reality Gives stories, we are back now with YEP students who successfully graduated three weeks ago. We wish them and all the other students of this batch excellent luck.
Ashwini is married with a five-month-old son, Dhwaj. She joined the programme because she wanted to grow as a person, and she’d like to be able to teach her children English. She has an HSC pass in Science, and she wants to train to be a nurse in the future. Her ambition is to become a military nurse, where she would have a good salary and a permanent job. It is important to her to be able to support her family financially.
Tushar worked in the billing department of an air conditioning company for six years. He left his job a year ago because he wanted to improve his English skills. He has lived with his family in Dharavi his whole life, but he’s planning to get a place of his own shortly. He is enjoying the programme, but he finds speaking English especially difficult. In the future, he would like to work in an office or find another job that allows him to utilize his English and computer skills.
Afreen’s older sister, Amreen, is a former student of the Youth Empowerment Program and encouraged Afreen to sign up. Afreen studies for the HSC in Commerce in the morning and is keen to improve her English and computer skills in the afternoon. Afreen would like to work in banking, but her parents would prefer her to take on household responsibilities and later get married.
Yogeshwar passed his HSC in Commerce, but the family’s financial problems meant that he didn’t continue his education. Instead, he went to work at Matunga Labour Camp as a garment maker for three years. He then applied for a job as an airport security guard. As he did not manage to qualify, he wants to improve his English while he applies for other security jobs both in India and abroad. He is working hard on his conversation skills as he thinks this will improve his job prospects.
Sobha is studying at college for a BCom in Banking and Insurance. She is a dedicated student and attends college classes from 7.30 to 1 pm before coming to the Youth Empowerment Program from 2.30 pm until 5.30 pm. She is enjoying the course but says she is very tired. She lives in Sion Koliwada but heard about the course through a friend who lives in Dharavi. She hopes to work in banking in the future.
