Ahmedabad: In 2025, where dinner table debates in urban India revolve around boardroom representation of women and wage gaps, there are still homes in these very metros — sometimes just one-room houses — where the question is far more basic: Will she be allowed to study at all?Meet Maahi Badkas of Hatkeshwar, Ahmedabad, a Class X student who scored a 90 percentile.She lives in a 1BHK with eight others – a home filled with warmth, but also noise, movement, and near-constant interruptions. “There was never a moment when I could say — this is my time to study. Wherever I got a little space and a bit of quiet, I sat down with my books,” said Maahi, with a quiet certainty that belies her years. Her father is a small-time trader, and her mother stitches clothes for the neighbourhood. Yet, their aspirations are stitched from a different cloth. “My elder sister is already on the path to becoming a doctor. I want to walk the same road. I’ll pursue science and later medicine. That’s the goal,” she smiles, determined.In families like Maahi’s, education is not a rite of passage — it is the only road to financial independence and to becoming a decision-maker of one’s own life. For other girls, it is their parents’ sheer belief in education that sets the course of their daughters’ lives. Not too far from Hatkeshwar, in the CTM area of Ahmedabad, lives Sanjana Mudaliyar, who scored a 94.70 percentile — despite her family’s mounting financial stress. Her father’s printing business struggled to recover since the pandemic, and though her mother Anita earns what she can as a private school teacher and tutor, the bills often outweigh the income. “Some in our family thought it would be more practical to start looking for a groom instead of saving for more classes and my education,” Sanjana said. “But my mother stood firm. She was clear that her daughter will finish her studies and will become a doctor.”And then, there is Hetal Parmar, whose father owns a tea stall and mother is a domestic helper. Hetal scored 87%. With financial struggles at home, Hetal studied late into the night, balancing chores and schoolwork. She faced challenges in school, receiving low internal marks and biased treatment, yet she persevered. Limited access to technology didn’t stop her; she used her parents’ phone to access resources like YouTube and PDFs. Aspiring to be a graphic or interior designer, Hetal says, “Your struggle is your strength.” (With inputs from Navya Nair and Palak Yadav)