In the recently declared West Bengal Higher Secondary Examination Result 2016, Bilkish Biswas has come to the spotlight with her 94.2%. No its not really her marks which brings her to the forefront but it’s the fight behind achieving these marks which is worth a salute. Bilkish, like many other girls of the country, was about to be married off at the age of 17 years when she was in class XI. Bilkish’s family isn’t really financially stable and seeing a good marriage prospect, her parents had thought of marrying her off. But Bilkish wanted to chase her dreams of becoming a civil servant for which she wanted to continue her studies. Bilkish’s scorecard said that she scored 93 in Bengali, 71 in English, 98 in computer applications, 97 in Geography, 96 in Philosophy and 87 in Economics.
Bilkish scored 84.2% in her Madhyamik two years ago which made her eligible for a scholarship, by virtue of which she could continue her HS education. She is a student of Bira Ballabpara Uchyamadhyamik Vidyalaya and used to cycle 10 Km to reach her school. But now, though she has got admission into the department of English at Barasat Government College, it’s the financing of her studies which is once again making things difficult for this poor girl. Her dather Abdul Rahim Biswas, said that he will try his best to see that his daughter gets to continue her studies because it would be a shame to be not able to go to college after such high marks. Her actual struggle was recalled by her grandmother, who described how she had seen her granddaughter study while sewing and stitching clothes. Bilkish had to supplement the family income and also had responsibilities of home tasks such as cooking, cleaning, scrubbing, etc, yet she managed to find 8 hours a day for studying. Often she would not come to school at a stretch, mainly because her workload at home increased, said her teachers at school.
It gives goosebumps to hear her say how she would help her mother during festival times to make sure that they earn extra. However she does believe that conditions can be changed and altered through hard work and that there are a lot many people who have bigger problems than her. Indeed, to get marks in an exam is easy, but being so optimistic about life at the face of such adversities, maybe that’s what winners are made of.
Source: http://goo.gl/HqX61m
