Zohaib Salmani passed SSC in 14th attempt, but cleared HSC in first

Repeated failures in his SSC examination, 13 times in all, did not push Andheri resident Zohaib Salmani into call it quits.

He attempted it every year, clearing one paper a year, till he finally managed to clear all two years ago

That done, he passed his HSC examination in the first attempt, and now nurtures just one dream: to be an MBA. 

Salmani, 27, who assists his father in his hair salon, appeared for his SSC exam for the first time in 1999. A student of Anjuman Islam High School at CST, he managed to pass only in Urdu.
“Not losing heart, I began assisting my father in his hair salon at Lokhandwala,” said Salmani, who loves watching and playing cricket. “Every year, I kept appearing for the SSC papers in March and October. I did not achieve success till 2003.” 

Disheartened, he contemplated quitting studies and taking up a career in hair styling. “But my father kept nudging me. His wish was to see me successful,” he said. 

Salmani took admission in a night school at Malad and started clearing two papers a year. In March 2004, he appeared for all subjects but managed to clear only Urdu and Science. In March 2005, he passed the English paper and the following year cleared the mathematics, Hindi and Marathi papers. Finally, in October 2007, he passed in the Social Science paper.

“That was the happiest day in my life. Finally, I managed to fulfill my father’s wishes,” said Salmani.

Buoyed by his success, Salmani took admission in Cosmopolitan College in Andheri and attended college every single day. “I was determined to pass all the papers in HSC and began my preparations since day one. I passed.” said Salmani.

He now plans to finish graduation and then do MBA. “Failure is bad, but one should never quit studies,” said Salmani’s father Aqueet Kiratpuri.