CONGRATS Zuraidah! Join the Club.

Sunday’s Star had the inspiring story of Zuraidah Sagar, a 34-year old mother of three children aged nine, seven and six years.

She topped the University Malaysia Sabah’s 2700 graduates with a degree in Marketing.

This is a major achievement and involves lots of understanding, sacrifice and hard work.

I can relate to her story as my wife also went back to school after we had three children about 23 years ago. At the time our daughters were aged about six, three and two and my mother was staying with us.

When I married my wife she was actually studying part-time but she stopped after marriage and concentrated on work and family. She received many promotions but after about 10 years with TNB, she reached the non-graduate ceiling. So she went back to school, to TAR College in Setapak that was located about 25 miles from our house in SS2 Petaling Jaya.

It was really tough but she was very focussed and finished the ACCA Parts 2 and 3 in two years. Out of her batch, there were only 2 or 3 candidates who passed the finals in one attempt.

I am not telling this to boast about her achievements – she probably would not like this public announcement but I just want to let people know that education need not end when you get married or have kids. If you are determined and have goals, just do it!

For Zuraidah I would say you have this added bonus. Your children will emulate your story. So far in my case, two daughters have completed their degrees, one will complete her studies soon and our son is doing his A Levels.