By Vanessa Braithwaite

– poor, physically challenged students excel at NGSA

IT has been said that one of the main factors resulting in a child’s academic success is a stable and well-positioned home, where all of their needs are met.

When a child has no anxiety on their backs, their nutritious meals are up to date, their ride to school may be parked in their house’s garage, their lessons and other fees are paid, it may only be laziness or rare circumstances that result in failure.

For those however, who do not know what will be in the lunch packs; who have been embarrassed by their teachers for non-payment of lessons fees; who have to study with lamps or candles because their electricity was cut off; who have to walk miles to school because there is no money for transportation; who have to skip classes to help with the younger siblings or any other unfortunate ordeal and still succeeds, deserve not a round of applause but a standing ovation.

Last week, upon the release of the 2018 National Grade Six Assessment results, many of those students made their parents proud, brought tears to their eyes, made them lift their heads in hope that despite they were not able to provide that stable home setting for their children, they beat all the odds and achieved greatness.

One of those children is Zaria Jacobis from the One Mile Primary School in Linden.
Zaria attained 514 marks out of 529 and was awarded a place at Queen’s College. She copped the sixth position in Region 10. Zaria is the fifth of seven children and her success story is written in physical pain, tears, sweat and hard work.

Zaria’s mother Rayann Jacobis, is a sales woman at a grocery store in Linden and said that upon hearing her daughter’s results, there was no room left in her stomach to take in the lunch she was eating at the time.

PROUD
“I felt so proud, I couldn’t eat any more, my belly get full right away,” she said. Jacobis related the struggles and challenges she endured during her daughter’s stint in Grade Six. She related that Zaria was born with her foot backwards and while it was surgically corrected, the foot pains her a lot, especially at nights and when it is raining.

“I use to have to go and collect her, I wasn’t working all the time, so I use to have to take her to school and collect her because the book bag was too heavy for her foot because one is still a little bend and it couldn’t take the pressure. When I started working, I had to ask the other children to collect her from school and so,” Rayann related.

Financially, it was very challenging for Rayann and most times was not able to meet the needs of Zaria. While her husband works in the interior, it is a great deal of time before he is adequately able to earn, sometimes, he is not able to do so.

“It was very challenging, right now I still owe for her lessons, it was very challenging to make ends meet,” the proud mom said and it is for these very reasons that Rayann is celebrating her daughter’s success in a humble way.

For the shy Zaria, she too expressed how happy she is, knowing she had to work extra hard for the overwhelming performance. “I am feeling very, very happy right now, I had to stay up late at nights, had a lot of home work to do, plus had to study. My teacher always commended me for finishing all my work on time, but it was very challenging,” she said. Zaria expressed gratitude to Jehovah God, her hard-working parents and all her teachers who have played a role in her success.

WHAT’S NEXT

Despite copping a place at the country’s top secondary institution, Zaria’s hope of attending Queen’s College is very dim. The monthly transportation from Linden to Georgetown is $20, 000. Rayann is almost certain that is out of her reach, given the fact that her older son had to be transferred from St Stanislaus College to Mackenzie High School because she could not afford the transportation cost.

“We still looking to see if we can afford it, but she is very understanding and wants to attend MHS,” the proud mother said.

Zaria said she knows it will be tough on her parents to send her to the elite school and is quite comfortable attending MHS. In fact, her brother topped MHS at the 2017 CSEC examinations with six grade ones, though he was transferred from St Stanislaus College. “I understand my mother’s situation so I really don’t want to go,” she said.

Like Zaria, Dimitry Waldron of the Wismar Hill Primary School in Linden also faced a series of challenges preparing for the NGSA, but still kept his head above the water and secured a place at President’s College. Dimitry is the third of seven siblings and his parents Ronella and Ryan Waldron support the family through a small bakery business in the yard during the afternoons.

His two older brothers are visually impaired as a result of a genetic disorder called congenital toxmoplasmosis.

VISUAL IMPAIRMENT
In fact, Dimitry, though not blind, has some form of impaired vision which was picked up through tests. He is currently relying on spectacles for improved vision. His mother Ronella however, fears that his sight may get worse as he grows, since it was the very same thing that happened to his older brothers. His little sister has also showed signs of impaired vision.

Fighting back the tears, Ronella said though she expected Dimitry to do better, she is proud of his accomplishment as he also put some hateful speech to rest.
“People use to say that my two older sons get MHS because people had to read for them and so during the exams and people cheat for them, but I told Dimitry that he showed people that they have the natural ability to do well, no body don’t have to cheat for y’all, what you have is a gift” the proud mother said.
Ronella also testified of finding it hard to make ends meet.

“It was challenging, sometimes he couldn’t go to lesson because you can’t afford; right now I still owe for lessons but I am happy he had a really nice and understanding teacher that even when he did not go, would call and ask for him to come,” she related.

The soft-spoken Dimitry said that he is very proud with his performance and all the sleepless nights and hard work paid off. He spoke of attending a lot of lessons and studying hard to be successful. His brothers, though they cannot see, still paid an integral role in helping him and he expressed gratitude to them. Dimitry looks forward to starting his new school as he continues to beat the odds of his home situation.

It is said that education can close the door of poverty and open the door of success. For Zaria and Dimitry, they believe that if they continue to work hard during high school, they can make this proverb, a reality.