Age No Bar: Grandmother clears class 12 board exams in Meghalaya

Lakyntiew Syiemlieh of Umsning Syiemlieh of Meghalaya has become an embodiment of determination after she cleared the Meghalaya board’s 12th HSSLC exams (Arts) with flying colors.

Why has her story been highlighted, one might ask? You see, Syiemlieh is not your typical school/collegegoer. She is, in fact, a 50-year-old grandmother who is blessed with 4 children and 2 grandchildren. Her story is as extraordinary as anything you might have come across in Ripley’s Believe it or not…

Syiemlieh had dropped out of Class X way back in 1988 from the Laitumkhrah Presbyterian School in Shillong. She would soon go on to become a single working mother. Despite being confronted with innumerable odds, the spirited woman never gave up and continued pursuing her studies. She later enrolled as a student of Class X at a night school – the NIOS Umsning – and successfully cleared her exams.

Syiemlieh has revealed that a fear of losing her job as a school teacher also propelled her forward in the quest for academic excellence, and her journey has finally taken her to a point where she can say that she has cleared the 12th exam – the minimum qualification for upper primary teachers in her state.

The Meghalaya granny, however, says that the best is yet to come. She said that since she loves writing poetry in her native Khasi tongue, she will be eyeing a Bachelor’s degree in the language in the future.

Syiemlieh has proven true the old adage that “age is just a number”, and her incredible story is bound to inspire more drop-outs to make a comeback to the education sphere. The Sentinel reports.

For more stories follow our page Times of Northeast on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Koo

Visit our website https://timesofnortheast.com