Rishi Baral

Pokhara, March 18:

Six visually impaired girl students will appear for the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination in Kaski this year. The District Education Officer, Bal Raj Poudel, said the students Nirjala Poudel, Sunita Gyawali, Kanya Pariyar, Babita Ale, Saraswati Tamang and Sirjana Dawadi, between 15 to 22 years, have already passed the pre-SLC examinations.

They are preparing for the upcoming exams under the guidance of their teacher, Dil Bahadur Chakradhar. The girls had used Brail till standard VII but after that they started attending classes with normal students. There are three schools offering education to the visually impaired students in Kaski district but only Amar Singh Secondary School runs classes for them at the secondary level. There are 15 schools in the country which provide special classes for the visually impaired.

Sunita Lamichhane, a teacher of Amar Singh Secondary School, informed that 10 visually impaired students had appeared for the SLC examination last year. Among them, seven managed to secure first class while the rest passed in second division. Lamichhane added that 17 visually impaired students would be appearing for the SLC exam next year. The school started teaching in Brail in 1982 and the first SLC batch appeared in 1989. At present, 55 visually impaired students are studying from class I to X. The school conducts exams at home centres and are given one hour as grace for the same question paper. A visually impaired teacher, Bishnu Maya BK, who was in the first batch said her student, Anita Gyawali, secured the highest marks in their group last year. For the visually impaired students of Amar Singh Secondary School, the government runs a special project which is supported by foreign organisations and individuals.