Mother of 4 from Kerala clears NEET at 47, reviving long-abandoned dream

It’s no coincidence that Juwana decided to take NEET. Hers is a family of doctors – her husband K P Abdulla is an ENT surgeon at the government district hospital in Kanhangad, their eldest daughter Mariyam Affrin Abdulla has completed her MBBS and is now a house surgeon, and their sons Salih Abdurrazak and Salman Abdul Qadir are medical students. The youngest, Azheemah Aasyia, is in Class 12.

In 2022, the National Medical Commission (NMC) lifted the 25-year age bar for NEET – a move that proved a boon for Juwana. “During the pandemic, I saw my son attending medical entrance coaching classes online. After the age bar was lifted, many others my age took the exam. So last year, I decided to prepare for it. My husband and children stood by me,” she says.

Instead of joining coaching classes, she relied on YouTube and her children for help. The effort paid off: she qualified in her first attempt, taking her closer to fulfilling her late father’s dream of seeing her become a medical professional.

“After Class 12, I unsuccessfully took the Kerala government’s medical entrance exam thrice. Later, I earned a BSc in zoology and joined a postgraduate course in medical pharmacology in Mangaluru. But my father’s death came as a major shock, and months later I got married and discontinued my studies,” she recalls.

Now that her children are grown, she feels it’s time to return to what she left behind. “When my four children excel in their studies, I asked myself why I should remain idle. More than working hard, I would say my success in NEET was due to working smart.”

She now looks forward to driving to college, learning, and interacting with her fellow students. “I’ll be sitting with students of my children’s age. I have a happy social life and will have no trouble mingling with others. Age is no bar,” she says.