14-year-old girl gains admission to University of Malawi, set to become a doctor at the age of 19

Taida is the first-born child in a family of three girls. She has two siblings; Zoey and Chloe. Her father is Ernest, an engineer, and her mother is Debra, a primary school teacher. She completed her primary and secondary school in eight years, instead of the usual 13 years. At some point, she had to be home schooled as her parents struggled to send her to school. She was home-schooled for a year before enrolling at Maranatha Junior School in 2012. In 2016, her Grade Six class had to be disrupted as the family relocated to Ghana. After four weeks at Ghana’s Association International School, the authorities were moved by her intelligence and upgraded her to Grade Seven. In no time, she wrote her Grade Seven exams and emerged as the top student. IGCSE is normally a two-year program leading to externally set, marked, and certificated examinations from the University of Cambridge, and any student who passes it gains a qualification that is globally recognized. At IGCSE, she attained four A+, five A’s and a B. In 2019, her family moved back to Zimbabwe and enrolled her at Hilbright Science College, although it was already mid-year. In October, Hilbright Science College agreed to enroll her to help her with her studies while she searched for a boarding school for January 2020. She took Mathematics, Chemistry, and Biology. However, by January 2020, the school was convinced she was ready for Advanced Level exams, hence they convinced her parents to pay examination fees. In 2020, Taida enrolled to study medicine at Malawi’s College of Medicine. Speaking about her journey, Taida Mapara said she got more inspired to study Medicine after listening to a lot of people referring to the course as being hard. “Everyone says medicine is very hard but that made me want to study it even more. If there are people out there who were able to get through it, then why can’t I?” she said. Her dedication and hard work made her reach her goal. She is an inspiration to all women in society.

Staff Writer