Specially-abled children from far-flung areas bring laurels to city school

Srinagar: Ten specially-abled students of ‘Abhedananda Home’ have passed class XII exams with flying colours.

Four out of the 10 students managed to get distinctions and their achievement has elated the school administration as they are hearing and speech impaired. All the students hail from far flung areas.

“Ten students from our school had appeared in class XII exams and all of them passed. Four students got distinctions. This is a big achievement for us as all 10 students are hearing and speech impaired (deaf and mute) and belong to far-flung areas like Uri, Beerwah, Banihal, Khansahib and Anantnag,” Manzoor Ahmad, Principal of Abhedananda Home, Higher Scondary Institute for Specially-abled Children, Solina, told The Kashmir Monitor.

He said two out of four distinction holders were girls while others had secured first division.

“Two girls Nareen Jan and Bisma Nisar and two boys Arshid Ahmad and Mohammad Saleem got distinction while six other students Suhail Bashir, Zubair, Fayaz Ahmad, Afsana Hussain, Nahida Bano and Zamrooda Akhter secured first division. All these students have studied in this school from nursery and despite hardships, they would reach school. Their parents too especially their mothers never gave up and stood firm and educated their children. This school also encouraged the parents by providing admission free of charge,” said the Principal of the Abhedananda Home.

He said the school also imparted vocational training to the students so that they did not remain dependent on anybody.

“In addition to this, the institution provides vocational training in computer, art and drawing and cutting and tailoring. Currently, 120 students are enrolled in the institution out of which 110 are hearing and speech impaired. Ten students are visually impaired. We also provide free hostel facilities to the visually impaired students,” he said.

The pass percentage of Class XII exam was around 80 per cent. As many as 46,987 out of 58,397 students passed the examination that was held last November. All top positions in the four streams of Class XII were bagged by girls. The pass percentage of girls was over 82 per cent while it was around 78 per cent for boys.