16-year-old Safia Javed is bound to an oxygen cylinder forall her life but she doesn¡¯t let anything deter her when it comes to her studies.
Javed, who has been suffering from lung disease andrequires a steady supply of oxygen, carried an oxygen cylinder to theexamination hall to appear for her Class X board exam.
She was granted special permission for the same. Safia is appearing in the UP board exams as a private student because she missed regular classes due to her illness.??
Safia has been suffering from the disease for the past fiveyears and has been on continuous oxygen support for over a year now.
"My family supports me a lot and helps me get over lowphases. I like Computer Science, but I have not yet decided on what I wouldwant to become," said Safia.
Speaking to TOI, Safia¡¯s father, Sarvar Javed, a resident ofShahbad colony in Bareilly, said ¡°My daughter had always been a class topperbut her medical condition deteriorated over the past five years. She was aregular student but had to drop out of the high school exams as her health conditionturned critical.¡±
Safia¡¯s health started deteriorating first after agall bladder removal surgery. A year later, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and it escalated to pulmonarytuberculosis and has shown no signs of improvement since.
Her father told TOI that her school teacher and principalhave been extremely supportive and made things easier for Safia, especiallywith the upcoming board exams.
In a similar case, a visually impaired student from Kerala, Haroon Kareem TK, is set tobecome the first student in India to take the Class 10 board exam or SecondarySchool Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination on computers in Kerala.
According to India Today, assistive technology forvisually impaired students is still not used in Kerala's SCERT exams. ButHaroon secured permission from Kerala's education minister though his requestwas first denied.
The SCERT guidelines are apparently outdated in Kerala. Hopefully, this wouldbe the first step towards creating a level playing field for visually impairedstudents.
In another instance of pure determination and will power, aGurugram girl named Anushka Panda who was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy(SMA), a genetic disease infamous for snatching away a person¡¯s physicalstrength topped the CBSE 2018 class 10 exam with a whopping 489 marksout of 500.?