Teacher Related

Despite having lost out on schooling due to the Second World War, a 90-year-old Italian lady has re-entered the classroom to get her high school certificate.

Annunziata Murgia is the oldest student in her evening class to take the licenza media, or middle school diploma test, which is generally taken by students in lower secondary education at the age of 14. Dolianova, Sardinia, is the place where she does so.

She informed Il Messaggero that she enjoys learning and always has. “But when the war broke out, everything changed for me. I had to go and work, as my family struggled and I had to play my part. Once upon a time, only those who had money could study.”

Murgia, who became a seamstress after learning to sew as a youngster, shared her story with us. In the end, she “learned alone, whenever I could,” although she read a lot of books.

History and music are two of her favorite subjects. “I’ve always enjoyed history books, in part because I’ve lived through so much of the history that’s been written about it: I witnessed the effects of World War One and experienced World War Two.”

At the same time that Murgia sits for her first diploma exam in June, her 16-year-old classmate will retake the course. Exams in Italian reading and mathematics are necessary to advance to upper secondary school in Italy, which concludes at the age of 18, if a student passes the exam.

According to a teacher at the school, Murgia is a highly enthusiastic and motivated student.

In spite of her hearing challenges and a recent fall, “she enthusiastically participates in the lessons, particularly history,” Pilia remarked.

A majority of students at the institution are adults who need to repeat high school examinations. This class has an average age of 40-plus pupils, some of whom are also preparing to get their middle school diplomas. Murgia

According to Pilia, “often they are women who are recouping their education after having children, or those who never acquired the diploma but need it for job, since it is the minimal education need.”

In 2016, an 87-year-old lady in Murgia’s age range took the school’s test for the final time. Murgia’s professors are “fantastic,” and her classmates are “like my grandkids,” according to her.

When it’s dark out, “some” of her companions join her on her way home. And she’s all set to take the test. “I’ll do my best.”