DUBAI: Ral should have been in Grade 5 now. The five foot six, 11-year-old boy cannot enter Grade 3. The reason: His mother, Maria, is unable to find a regular job after being laid off twice in the last two years.
His father, an Arab man, left them in 2001. Unable to clear the backlog with his previous school in Abu Dhabi, Ral has been unable to move up to the next level.
The Filipina breast cancer survivor in her 40s has been living off the generosity of relatives and friends. Maria said her previous employer had been kind enough to allow her to remain on her residence visa. "This situation is unfair for my child," she said.
An official in charge of collections in Ral's previous school, a villa school shut down by the Abu Dhabi government, refuses to release his records without clearing the remaining Dh6,000.
Maria's offer to pay in instalments has also been declined. She is at her wits' end and has appealed to XPRESS for help.
During better times, Maria worked for a global fashion brand before she moved to a pay TV company in Abu Dhabi where she worked for three years. After being made redundant there in 2010, Maria found work with a bank in Dubai, but was made redundant again last June as she was unable to meet the targets.
While school started in the first week of September, Ral remains at home, playing video games during the day. He's been having nightmares, unable to sleep till 5am at the thought that no school will accept him.
Maria said a Dubai school has offered Ral admission at a nominal fee until she's able to find another job, but Ral remains stuck at home until his previous school records are released.
Maria said she still considers herself lucky having survived cancer. But the generosity of her friends and family is running out.
Her father died last year after a long bout with pancreatic cancer.
