"I am terribly missing my father, who was against my schooling. He had a different and very dogmatic view that teaching girls means no use; it’s better to get them married and live a happy life with their husband," said Triveni Dhamdhare, who got selected for a British Government-sponsored Chevening Scholarship. She is the only girl from Maharashtra who got selected for this one-year programme.

As reported by Sudhir Suryawanshi of The New Indian Express, Triveni, who landed a week before in London, is pursuing her MSc in Data Science at the University of Bristol, in the United Kingdom. She is making a milestone not only for her family but also for her entire community. Her father passed away three years ago.

Triveni’s childhood was not easy. She lived in a slum surrounded by different rogue elements of society, where getting an education and going abroad to a prestigious world-renowned university was quite unthinkable and a distant dream. But Triveni charted a different path and kept away from the discouraging factors and elements. She was raised by her single parent.

She said, “It is important for girls also to get educated. They can also aspire and achieve success in their lives and stand on their own financially. I am confident that after seeing my success, my deceased father would have changed his conservative mentality. The world has changed, so we have to catch up with it fast,” she said.

Triveni was a bright student since school days, and what is ‘independence’ that she learnt at her very early age when most children depend on their parents for even small things? “Learn and earn” was the mantra of my life. My classmate used to enjoy the school’s summer and winter holidays, but I used to work at different offices. I funded my own education,” she said.

Triveni scored 80% in Class 10 and later secured 63% in Class 12 with a science stream. “I began my schooling in a Marathi-medium school before switching to an English-medium one, completing most of my education in a Pune Municipal Corporation-run school,” she recalled.

“After Class 12, I applied for a three-year BSc in Physics and Data Science at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. I cleared the written test and performed well in the interview too. With a full scholarship, I didn’t have to worry about paying fees,” she added.

Recalling her hardship, she praises her mother, who stood as a solid pillar when her father and other people in the family were against her education.