In this world, education is an important milestone in every child’s life. However, for me, it was very difficult. Due to difficult circumstances at home, my parents would often travel to Mumbai. As a result, I received only a little education in my village. Since our home situation wasn’t good, I too would travel with my parents to Mumbai. At that time, I thought that without education in my life, it would be better for me to stay in Mumbai. It was then that I started to understand how to live in this world. With this in mind, I moved to Thane in Mumbai and started living under the bridge at Teen Hath Naka signal. There, I began selling things to cover my expenses.
After a few days, a school called Signal School was established at the signal, but since I was working, I didn’t know there was a school there. When I found out about the school, I started visiting the area around the school. Seeing the school, I started remembering my own school. One day, I gathered some courage and met the teacher. I told him, “I also want to study. Will you give me admission?” The teacher, Mr. Bhatu Sawant, said, “If you wish, I will give you admission.” He admitted me to Signal School.
After attending the school for a few days, I could read and write. Based on my age, the teacher enrolled me in the 8th grade. The 8th grade studies weren’t very difficult, so I was able to understand easily. I passed the 8th grade. Later, the teacher asked me, “Will you appear for the 10th grade exams?” I replied, “Yes, I will appear for the 10th.” But it wasn’t as easy as I had thought. Since I hadn’t studied the 9th grade, I found the 10th grade very difficult. The first six months were so hard that I didn’t even know what to do. At that time, to help me, teachers like Deshmukh Madam, Karandikar Madam, Javele Madam, Karnik Madam, and Swapna Madam were teaching me. Javele Madam was so proficient in math that her hands would solve the problems themselves. There was no need to even think.
The last two and a half months were left, and my studies were still lagging behind. Then, our teacher Suman Shewale Madam told the principal that Mohan and Dashrath should come to her house for extra lessons. Madam invited us to her home for additional studies.
We would revise everything we studied during the day. With the blessings of all these teachers, I scored 76.80% in the 10th grade. And I passed the 10th grade.
-Mohan Kale