Masood wants to study more

Masood is a nine-year-old boy from a slum, located in the suburb of Mumbai. He lives with his parents and three sisters. One of his sisters is of the same age as him and studies in his class. His father is unemployed and stays at home and his mother manages the responsibility of supporting the family by working as a sweeper. One of his elder sisters has also started working recently as a housemaid.

Masood is in Grade 4 and has been attending Pratham’s English workshop since its first session. He started off at the letter level, where he was able to identify some letters albeit with difficulty. He mixed up alphabets that were mirror images of each other like “p” and “q”. Masood is a shy child and takes time to open up to new people. Therefore, at first, when he was asked if he knew any English, he said he didn’t. But later, he revealed that he knew how to spell his name in English and also knew a few poems.

Masood feels that he is the closest to his father and likes the fact that he sometimes helps him with his studies. His father has studied only up to fifth grade and his mother is illiterate. Unlike his parents, Masood says that he plans to finish school and study further to become a doctor or engineer. It helps that his current favorite subject is Science. He says that he is also beginning to enjoy learning English.

Thank you for helping Masood study further!