Visually challenged special achiever fulfills his dream

It was a dream come true for Anwith G Kumar who secured the first rank in M.A (Political Science).

He was awarded three cash prizes during the 40th annual convocation of Mangalore University held on Saturday.

He was awarded the Hanuman Gajanana Automobiles Cash prize, Cypiran Carnelio Memorial Cash award and The Louella Lobo Prabhu and J M Lobo Prabhu cash prizes.

Anwith from Chintranjali Nagar, Kumpala, is a special achiever. Being visually challenged, he had aspired to secure a gold medal in M.A as well.

He completed his B.A gold medal from St Aloysius College in 2018-19 and did his master's in Political Science at Mangalore University.

Anwith told DH that his mother has been his backbone. She has been a great emotional support for me, he added.

She used to record lessons in her voice for Anwith to study and revise.

Anwith is a native of Mudigere, Chikkamagaluru. When Anwith was in UKG, he lost his father, Kumar. His mother Yadavi works as a staff nurse at Lady Goschen Hospital, Mangaluru.

Till class six, Anwith went to a normal school. However, he had an issue with his vision, due to a problem with his eye lens.

When he was in the sixth standard, he lost his vision completely due to retina detachment.

From the seventh standard, he studied at Roman And Catherine Lobo School For Blind, with the help of braille.

He wrote SSLC and PU exams with the help of scribes. He pursued his PU education at Gokarnanatheshwara PU College.

“My classmates and hostel mates were helpful. During post-graduation, they would share e-study materials with me and read out old question papers. Without them, this achievement wouldn’t have been possible, said an emotional Anwith.

Anwith used a special software on his laptop which would read out the text aloud.

Anwith took the exam with the help of scribes. He thanked his professors for providing him with a lot of support and encouragement.

They would suggest good references to improve my studies, he said and added that he aspires to become a lecturer.