Having faith…..YOU are not alone….
In May 2014, we started preparing for the 3rd paper of Senior Secondary Examination, Home Science to be held in October. My daugher enjoyed learning this subject and was able to relate to almost all the topics in the syllabus quite well. There were around 25 chapters and we learnt in detail, revised orally and solved test papers with attention to various skills. In school, she fared well in the tests and terminal examination. Around two weeks before the examination, she knew where in her register, we could find the answer to a question…this was quite impressive!
My daughter was going to be accompanied by her reader, smart and sweet, calm and brave who was with her for the 4th time now. We went to her home, for a couple of mock tests, so that we could find solution to any hindrance possible during the examination. We wanted her to do very well! This time our examination centre was in Noida’s NIOS centre itself. My friend’s mother in Noida was so kind to make arrangements for my daughter to come to her home and relax before the examination. We are blessed.
Our reader assured me that all will be good, as they stood in the long queue to enter the examination hall and I had many worries. My husband and myself waited for 2 hours under the tree patiently for them to return. The paper was tough with indirect questions; the reader tried her best to simplify them and my daughter did her best to answer well! We returned home satisfied with all our efforts….I thanked the reader for being so brave and positive!
Results were declared…she did not clear the paper!
The reader insisted that the paper did not go bad enough to fail. It was just not upto the expectation, considering my daughter’s preparation and ability to recall. My friend suggested that we apply to NIOS, for a request to see the answer sheet. That would be a long difficult procedure but on the other hand repeating the tedious journey of preparation and re-examination seemed very tiring too! I was confused and disappointed but my friend was confident…she had faith in my daughter’s ability and also in the reader’s feedback.
She reached out and held my hand!
After 3/4 visits to Noida office, we finally managed to take a look at the answer sheet! My friend was right…I was amazed…
My daughter’s answers matched with the questions of Set A, whereas she was marked wrong for 50% of the questions. So it was obvious, that the examiner would have matched her answers with question paper ‘Set B’ or ‘Set C’! We had to make many more visits all the way to NIOS office to escalate the matter to senior officials, along with a series of formalities…until they were convinced to make the correction.
It was a huge achievement for my friend who so selflessly fought this battle with me…for me….for my daughter!
“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.” Walter Elliot
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