39-Year-Old Linza RJ Went From Being A Cleaner To An English Teacher At The Same School. Her Story Has Us Inspired
Despite growing up on a staple diet of fairytales and ‘pauper from prince’ kind of stories, the moment we are old enough, we are always told how fairytales are quite literally just that – tales that are too good and perfect to be true in a world like ours. And even though we do agree on how there is never really a happy ending to certain things, we have been made to reconsider our lack of belief in fabulous endings with this real Cinderella type of a story, one that even though involves a woman rising up from her role as cleaner to a self sufficient and respected teacher.
As has been the story of Linza RJ, the 35-year-old woman hailing from Kerala who had her fate turned around as she made her way from once being a cleaner in a higher secondary school, to later turning into an English teacher for the same school. Starting out her career as a cleaning staff at Iqbal Higher Secondary School at Kanhangad, and working at the Government funded school in Kerala for a good 12 years, Linza’s story is one of hope, hard work and claimed opportunity.
Turns out, Linza’s father used to work as a Sanskrit teacher at the school and while Linza was in her final year of graduation, he passed away leaving Linza a younger brother and a family to support and look after. With the bare minimum as qualifications, the school offered a role to her in the cleaning staff, which she accepted. However, she did not just stop at that and we are glad. In any spare time from her job as a cleaning lady for the premises, Linza started studying. She said, “I completed my BA and did my MA English while working there.” However, had to soon after leave the job as the original caretaker resumed services.
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During which, she resumed studying further to pursue her B.Ed and then moved on to start teaching English at a private school. In the meantime, as she was once again approached to resume her job in the cleaning staff at a government, she took that up too. The headmistress Praveena M V, said, “She used to tidy up the school in the evening and run errands in the morning. And in her free time, she was busy with WhatsApp and Facebook. I saw brilliant talent going waste and asked her to prepare for the teacher’s eligibility test. Linza gave excuses of being a mother to a newborn girl and a six-year-old boy. But when I told her that I married early because of poverty and did my entire higher education after becoming the mother of two children, she got the message (sic).”
Going ahead to first clear her Kerala Teacher Eligibility Test (K-TET) and then later, the State Eligibility Test (SET) making her eligible to teach the higher secondary schools, Linza successfully became a qualified teacher and an inspiration for all of us in the process.
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Commenting on how she’s evolved herself from a cleaner to a well informed and learned teacher, she said, “When I first joined in 2001, I had the ego that I was an undergraduate, but when I cleared PG and B.Ed and joined back again, I was grounded. The qualifications never went into my head.”
She further shared how, “They thought I’m standing in for an absent teacher. I started off by addressing the class in English. It was not only to assure myself that I can do it but also to remove the skepticism in students’ minds. Today, my children in Class VI and VII communicate in English (sic).”
And it isn’t just heartening to read but also comes across as a big ray of hope for everyone who thinks they can’t rise above their present situation and pursue their passion. From dodging all the excuses she could’ve used, her family and monetary crisis, but instead using them as a mere motivators, today Linza works as a teacher and even has the potential of becoming the principal one day! If that isn’t a modern day happy ending, we don’t know what is.
