Yoga aficionado P. Gayathri had no idea that she had topped the State with her score among hearing-impaired students until well into the morning on Tuesday.
The smile on her face after she found out was incandescent. Gayathri was one of 29 students at Little Flower Convent School for the Deaf who wrote the class XII examinations this year, said principal M. Jesintha Rosalind, adding that all had passed.
“She travelled overnight from her hometown in Erode in the expectation that her results would be good. Her father is a weaver there,” she said.
Gayathri’s next goal is to study commerce.
At the school for the blind, S. Sandhya came second in the State among the visually impaired with a score of 1140. Last year, the top score was 1118.
Sandhya has already applied for a degree in English in two colleges.
“I then want to do an MBA and get into government service, hopefully the IAS!” said the 18-year-old.
A total of 21 students took the exams, and all passed, said principal Maragaret Sulojana.
Both schools had been completely flooded in December, said correspondent Sr. Amala Raphael, and had lost equipment, teaching aids, furniture and books.
“The schools were shut for over a month. The residential students went home and many of them lost their clothes and belongings,” she said.
The students credited their teachers for their scores and said special classes had been held to ensure their revision was completed.
The Dr. MGR Home and Higher Secondary School for the Speech and Hearing Impaired, which too was badly affected in the floods, had 40 students write the exams and all passed, said principal Latha Rajendran, with three students being Kancheepuram revenue district toppers. Four students from The Spastics Society of Tamil Nadu too passed the exams.
At other schools for the disabled, students found a few papers difficult, principals said. At the St. Louis Institute for Deaf and Blind, S. Rajkumar, a visually impaired student, scored 1090 making him one of the district toppers of the Chennai revenue district. All 22 visually-impaired candidates passed, said principal, Br. John Xavier, but four of the 31 hearing-impaired students failed.
“The students found the commerce and accounts papers difficult,” he said.
Language and maths too were found difficult, said James Albert, principal, CSI School for Deaf, where 16 of the 19 candidates passed. At the Government Higher Secondary School for the Blind, Poonamallee, three students failed in economics, while the other 21 passed, with one student being a Tiruvallur revenue district topper.
Three students from Ajay Higher Secondary School for the Deaf were among the district toppers for the hearing impaired with scores above 860 for 900 in the Tiruvallur revenue district.
The Nethrodaya Higher Secondary School also had a Tiruvallur revenue district topper in S. Gowtham, a visually impaired student who scored 1003.
“These exams were more challenging than any others — nature was against the students and the exams were tough. Gowtham lives in Thirumanagalam and his house was badly affected in the floods and his building even caught fire. He found it very difficult to travel to school. But he fought brilliantly,” said C. Govindakrishnan, founder, Nethrodaya, adding that their school was a free residential facility for the blind and orthopedically challenged.
