Young Rubina Ali’s social diary has been more than full these past few months: a trip to Paris; a tea party in Westminster, London; a dance show in Hong Kong; product endorsements; and numerous trips in and out of India for award shows and to promote the Slumdog Millionaire child actor’s autobiography, Slumgirl Dreaming. However, the school she attends in Mumbai along with her co-star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail is not happy with her attendance or attitude. School officials say the girl now disregards the teachers she once always greeted politely in the morning — that is, when she finds the time to attend school. Rubina’s father Rafiq Ali is defending her against her teachers, saying his daughter is just a child and under a lot of pressure.
“The two major complaints from the school authorities have been low attendance and an attitude problem, not only with the children but with their parents too,” says Madhumati Lade, the family counselor appointed by the Jai Ho Trust, which was established by filmmakers Danny Boyle and Christian Colson to provide shelter, education and health care support for the two young stars of their award-winning movie. Lade visits the school three times a week to check on the children’s progress, and she says that for the past six months, their attendance has been steadily dipping. “Rubina has 28% attendance, while Azhar has 37%. They didn’t even sit for their last examination,” Lade says.
Ali tells TIME that “Rubina’s attendance was low as she had burned her foot. I couldn’t inform the school on time. But I went and apologized later, and requested them not to make an issue out of this. I don’t understand why such a big deal is being made out of this.” Azhar’s mother Shamim says her son has missed school because of his father’s death from tuberculosis in September. “These are all rumors,” she insists. “A little irregularity has been blown up. Despite the fact that the school is quite far from where we live, I try to send him to school regularly.”
Lade has been counseling the children and their families for the past few months, and she says their behavior is often rude. “I would be talking to Rubina, but she will talk to someone else or do something else, her body language making it clear that she has no interest in what I am saying. Azhar will often cut in rudely while I am talking to his mother, trying to get her away from talking to me.” Shamim maintains that Azhar’s rudeness is just “immaturity.” She says, “He is finding it difficult to cope with his father’s death. That is why he has been inattentive at school and sometimes a little bit rude with people.”
