The Hindu : New Delhi News : Brilliant score despite odds

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 28, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Brilliant score despite odds

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MAY 27. Like all students preparing for the Central Board of Secondary Education examinations, Garima Goel's day always ended with setting the alarm for the morning. But unlike most children who wake up rather uncomfortably to the loud ring of the alarm clock, it was always a gentle shake from her mother for this girl. Not because she missed the ring, but because she never heard it.

Born deaf and dumb, Garima's morning routine may not have changed but she had a reason to cheer this Wednesday morning when she logged on to the website at 6 in the morning to check her results. A click of the mouse told her that she had overcome her disability to score a brilliant 80 per cent.

A student of MCL Saraswati Bal Mandir, her school was thrilled with her performance today. "When she joined Class VI in the school, she was completely deaf and dumb. But over the years, integrated education has helped her improve. Today she can talk although she can't hear without a hearing aid. It was not easy for her in the beginning, but she always worked hard and was in the top league of the class. We are really proud of her,'' said the school principal, Govind Ram Aggarwal.

But perhaps more joyous were her parents who feel they have been successful in proving that disability is all in the mind. "She has worked really hard. Although she was good, she could not hear half of what was being taught in class. So we decided to keep tuitions for her in some subjects. We knew she would get good results, but she has outdone our expectations. It was probably because of the help from her school and the non-government organisation Suniye which encouraged us to put her in a normal school instead of one with special children,'' said Garima's mother.

Other differently-abled students who topped were ASN Senior Secondary School's Mohd Naimat Khan; JPM Senior Secondary School's Naveen Kumar Gautam; Convent of Jesus and Mary's Nikita Aggarwal; and Amity International School's Srikant Banerjee.

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