Yet, she appeared in this year's SLC exams as an open school candidate and passed with second division.
"I feel overjoyed," said Januka. "I learnt a lesson that we will ultimately succeed if we kept trying without losing hope."According to her, her studies were hampered after she got married at the age of 16 when she was a tenth grader. But she resumed her studies 24 years later.
"I spent 24 years attending to household chores. My son is now in Japan for his masters," said she. Likewise, her daughter, Lalita, is a bachelor third-year student at Rapti Babai Multiple Campus of Tulsipur.
She said that she was not interested in enrolling in school again, but her children were unrelenting in forcing her to resume her studies again.
The Open school required her to attend classes at least one week per month. She never studied under any private tutor. "My daughter taught me sometimes, otherwise, I mostly studied by myself," said she.
"I passed without any serious effort," said she, who burst into laughter. She said she was proud of herself for becoming an SLC graduate. She plans to continue her further studies and looks forward to major in Nepali.
Another woman, Nirmala Lamichhane, 35, of Tulasipur, has also passed SLC examinations after resuming her studies after 15 years.
Nirmala was a ninth grader when she got married at the age of 20.
She could not continue her studies after she got involved in family affairs.
"Amid the household works, I managed to find time for studies. As a result, I passed with the second division," said she.
Janaka and Nirmala had completely lost their hopes of passing SLC exams after their marriages. Like them, 17-year-old Ranjeet Neupane from Tulasipur, who had appeared in the SLC exams through open school, also secured the first division. He had failed to file the registration form at grade nine from his school because of a critical illness.
18 examinees, out of the total 172 who appeared from open school, have passed the SLC exams.
Open school is a category introduced by the government a decade ago for students who did not have the opportunity to continue their schooling beyond grade nine.
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