Three of the six visually impaired students from Amar Singh Higher Secondary School passed the exams in the first division while the rest in second division. Similarly, 10 out of 11 audibly impaired students from Srijana Higher Secondary School for Deafs have passed in the first division while the rest in second division. [break]
Five visually impaired students had passed in the first division and the same number of audibly impaired in second division from these schools last year.
“We expected at least one student to obtain distinction this time around. But no one could,” teacher of the blind section of Amar Singh Higher Secondary School Bijaya Lamichhane said adding, “But we are happy that all of them passed.”
Lamichhane argued the visually impaired may not have secured distinction as they cannot write the answers themselves. “They couldn´t answer all the questions they know as they have to depend on others,” he reasoned. The blind students use Braille at schools but have to make do with an eighth-grade graduate as associate for SLC.
Principal of the Srijana Higher Secondary School for Deafs Ganesh Prasad Adhikari, on the other hand, was impressed with the success of his wards despite the handicap. “They have got good results despite studying in sign language,” Adhikari enthused.
The students are delighted with the result. “I have been able to pass in the first division though I have not got the marks that I hoped. I am happy nevertheless,” a visually impaired student of Amar Singh Higher Secondary School Surya Bhattarai said over phone.
“I hoped to get 70 percent but just got 64 percent,” Bhattarai, who hails from Sankhar, Syangja, rued. He felt that having a junior student as an associate was a distinct disadvantage preventing one from properly dealing with questions for which s/he has the answer.
Amar Singh Higher Secondary School has been teaching visually impaired students for 29 years as part of unified education. It had started to send them for SLC 10 years later and over 100 students have passed SLC from this school till date. The school currently has around six dozen visually impaired students on its rolls.
Likewise, Srijana Higher Secondary School for Deafs has produced more than 50 SLC graduates after its students started to appear in the SLC exams nine years ago. Two hundred and eleven audibly impaired students from 36 districts currently study in the school established by the government about 23 years ago.
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