Mumbai Auto Driver's Daughter Fights All Odds To Become A Chartered Accountant

The results of CA final exams have given the Pareiras of Ghatkopar a reason to celebrate. Twenty-five-year-old Steffi Pareira has cracked the CA final exams. Its a feat that the family was struggling to achieve for the last two years.

mumbaimirror

Steffi, who studied commerce at Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College in Ghatkopar cleared the CA finals in the results declared on January 17. A sincere student throughout, Steffi decided to pursue CA as she was motivated by her father Francis who has been driving an autorickshaw for a living. Steffi's mother Meena works as a domestic help in nearby societies so that the family doesn't have to struggle to make ends meet.

"I am very happy that I could finally fulfill the dreams of my parents. Both, my father and mother have struggled a lot but made sure that I had all the resources available. I owe this success to them," she said.

Steffi's family includes her parents and elder sister Anita who is an interior designer. The family stays in a small rented apartment of an SRA building in Ghatkopar's Laxmi Nagar. After clearing the Common Proficiency Test (CPT) and Integrated Professional Competence Course (IPCC) she hoped to clear the finals in the first attempt. While she cleared the first group in November 2014, she missed the second group by a few points. The fate repeated for the next two years as she failed to clear the group.

"I was disappointed. It was frustrating on many levels. On one side, I was beginning to question my own ability while on the other I could not see my family sacrificing so much just to keep my motivation up all the time. It was high time I delivered something," she added.

mumbaimirror

Francis said that he was willing to work hard to be able to afford her education.

"I have studied only till class ten. But I wanted my daughter to aim for big. We needed a lot of funds to be able to pay the college fees and later the tuition expenses, but we somehow managed. For us, our daughter's education was the topmost priority," said Francis who often paid the tuition fees in installments.

Ajay Bagal, who taught Steffi while in school said that Francis and his family has contributed immensely to Steffi's success. "He would sometimes pay the tuition fees in notes of 10 and 20 rupees, that he got from his earnings," he added.

Her mother Meena said that when Steffi appeared for the exams in November 2016, the family did everything it could, from giving her the best environment to study to praying for her success every day.

"It was her father's dream and she worked really hard towards it. We are happy for her success and are now looking forward to having a more stable life," she added.

Steffi said that she studied for over 13 hours every day this time and would travel to a small library in Thane. "I consulted lot of people including a few friends who are CAs and my teachers and devised an exam strategy. Thankfully it worked." Steffi has started her own tax consultancy and is now looking forward to expanding it.