Age is not a barrier, but a number: 53-year-old woman Basanti Saikia, from Dhakuakhana clears HS exam

LAKHIMPUR: Generally, there is a notion in people’s minds that a student’s life is for learning, middle age is for working, and old age is for relaxing. To some extent, this thinking is all right, but generalisations of the same cannot be correct in the sense that age is no barrier to learning if there is a strong willpower. One’s life over 50 or a retirement life does not mean that one will stop learning or pursuing education. Reading, writing, and learning are the three important parameters that are required not only to oil the rusted mind but also to gauge its present status. If a person is old but physically fit and in a comfortable environment, he or she can focus his or her faculties towards learning. This is what a woman, aged almost 53, living in the Dhakuakhana subdivision of Lakhimpur district has proved. This woman has managed to pass the Higher Secondary Examination this year by overcoming all the excuses and barriers of the hectic life of a middle-aged person.

The woman is Basanti Saikia, wife of Dharmeswar Saikia, a resident of Sapotiya village under the Dhakuakhana subdivision, who passed the Higher Secondary Final Examination by securing second division as per the result announced on Thursday. She passed her High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examination in 1988, and then her journey of pursuing education came to a halt. But she did not let her dream of pursuing higher education nip in the bud. As a result of it, she sat for the Higher Secondary Final Examination this year after 36 years at Sapotiya Higher Secondary School, Dhakuakhana, and successfully passed the same by grabbing second division with 58 percent marks. Basanti Saikia is an Anganwadi worker at the Sapotiya Anganwadi Centre. She continued her studies regularly to sit for the examination despite her busy schedule, household issues, and government responsibilities. She, who was born into a cultured family in the village, has been involved in different cultural activities by acting in stage shows at the Raax Festival and other theatrical performances since her childhood till date. She has been regularly acting different characters in Raax Leela shows staged by purely female artists in the Sapotiya area for years. Along with her husband, who is a minor businessman, Basanti Saikia is blessed with an educated son and two daughters who have already gotten married. Her daughter-in-law is also studying MA at JB College of Jorhat at present. Her success has brought happiness to the family and created an inspiring environment in the locality. Basanti Saikia informed this correspondent that she has a desire to pursue higher education by continuing her academic journey despite her age and other responsibilities.

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