For months, Senitha S. took her flashlight-equpped cell phone, along with her books, to a street corner to prepare for the Class X Board examination. She scored 434 out of 500. A resident of Mannady Street in George Town, Senitha has only one goal and that is to make her parents proud.

“I’m a little disappointed since I expected to score over 450. But at the end of the day, if my parents can proudly say out loud that their child will be a lawyer, doesn’t that make up for everything?” she asked. Her father is a daily wage labourer and mother a homemaker.

Ms. Senitha, who dreams to be a lawyer, recalled how she woke up at 4 a.m. to study at her house, which had just enough space for her family of five. “I’d go to the street corner to study so I don’t disturb my family,” she said.

But what if the street light wasn’t working? “I would use the flashlight on my basic keypad [button] phone. I’d study until 6 a.m. and then go to school,” Ms. Senitha added. She said her teachers at the Muthiyalpet Girls Higher Secondary School offered her quiet place to study until 7 p.m. “They sat with me after 4 p.m., explaining difficult concepts. After 7 p.m., I’d go to the Karunalaya Centre for Education and study for another hour,” she said.

Ms. Senitha added that her mother or father would accompany her in the morning as it was unsafe. “There’s also construction work right behind my house, which adds to the din of the traffic while studying. Things do get difficult sometimes. My parents did not pursue higher education.I have two younger siblings, and I teach them so that they too continue to excel. It’s important for me to make life easier for my parents,” she added.