Last year I sat for my lower certificate of education examination. This was the first important hurdle that I had to cross in my academic career. Up to that time I had been automatically promoted from one standard or from to the next.
My parents are not very rich. They could not afford to send me to a private tutor in the town, nor could they coach me, not being highly educated them. I had not taken studies seriously during the primary school years. During the three years in the lower secondary school, I had worked fairly hard. However, I had not fared better than being admitted to the third stream out of the six in form Three. I had progressed steadily throughout the year but had still failed to pass in all subjects at the trial test held in the middle of July. Thus my chances of doing well at the lower certificate of education examination were rather slim.