Droni Zhong Nai was presented with the Jewel & Esk College SQA award at the college’s graduation and prizewinners ceremony held recently at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.Droni’s story is quite remarkable.

Born in a small village in Tibet, she lost her mother when she was only three months old and grew up in an orphanage. She didn’t start her education until she was 13, when a charity worker set up a classroom in the orphanage.  She is now a practitioner of traditional Tibetan Herbal Medicine and is currently funded by the international charity ROKPA to study an MSc at the Scottish Agricultural College at Oatridge.

Droni studied on an English for Speakers of Other Languages course at Jewel & Esk.  She was an exemplary student. The course was demanding for her at times, but she made tremendous progress and was successful in achieving her First Certificate pass.Droni returned to Tibet for two and a half months this summer to work in a medical clinic in her village.  She came back to Scotland in September to start her course at Oatridge, having been allowed to go straight to second year on merit. Droni impressed staff at Jewel & Esk with her hard work and cheerful disposition. She took on a job as a home care support worker to supplement her income and persevered even though she found it exhausting and culturally challenging.  She has integrated well with a culture very removed from her own.

Droni was seen by staff as a shining example of triumph over diversity, and proof that education can have a deep and transforming effect on those from even the most disadvantaged backgrounds.