This school leads kindly light
Belgaum school for blind scores 100 per cent for the 23rd year running
It’s performance personified for students of the Maheshwari School for the Blind School of the City. The school has been registering cent percent result in SSLC examinations for the past 23 years, consecutively.
Out of the 13 students who appeared for the examination this year, three have passed with distinction and ten in first class. Among these, nine are totally blind while the rest have partial eye sight.
The school started in 1978 and the first batch appeared for SSLC examination in 1987-88. Each of 600 students have appeared for the examination since then and come out with flying colours.
There are 125 students in this residential school this year. Visually-challenged students from Belgaum, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Dharwad and other districts across the state are studying in the institution.
The students avail the assistance of 9th standard students of Vanita Vidyalaya as scribes for the examination. The infrastructure at the school and the efforts put in by teachers have contributed for the school’s exemplary performance. Apart from Braille library, the school has a computer lab.
The computers have been specially designed for the use of visually-challenged students. The school also conducts music classes. However, irregularity in financial assistance in the form of government grants has hampered further development of the institution. While grants were regular till 2005, the school is now yet to get Rs 38 lakh towards arrears.
Being visually impaired had never been a hinderance to Prateek Yaji, a student of this school, who has secured 75 percent of marks in the SSLC examinations. One among the three students who has passed with distinction from this school, Prateek, the son of Mruthyunjaya Yaji, an employee with a private firm, this year was a challenge, which required hard work, perseverance and dedication.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, he said that his mother would read out for him for about five hours as he can neither read nor write. Attributing his success to his school and his parents, Yaji said that being visually impaired he was entitled to get the help of a person to write his examination as he dictated the answers.” The question papers were same as it was for other students,” he said.
Blind by birth, he said that his subjects included all the language and major subjects with exception of Mathematics and Science. “These two subjects will be replaced by Political Science and Economics,” he explained. Prateek, who is on a visit to his uncle in the Bangalore has secured 441 marks in the examination wants to take up Arts or Commerce in his PUC.
