90% disabilities, 100% determination

Asim will travel on wheelchair from Kozhikode to capital for his school’s upgrade

February 10, 2019 11:28 pm | Updated 11:28 pm IST - Kozhikode

Congress president Rahul Gandhi with Asim in Kochi.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi with Asim in Kochi.

A video of him interacting with Rahul Gandhi went viral on social media after the Congress president posted it on his Facebook page a fortnight ago. Differently abled boy Mohammed Asim from Velimanna in Kozhikode district is now planning to launch a ‘yatra’ on a wheelchair on February 15 evening to the State Secretariat to intensify his demand to upgrade an upper primary school in his village to help him continue his studies.

Award recipient

The 13-year-old recipient of the State government’s Ujjwala Balyam Award for child prodigies, who cleared the Class 7 exams in 2018, could not continue his studies last year as the State government decided to file an appeal against a June order of the High Court that directed the authorities to upgrade the school.

Saeed Yamani, Asim’s father, told The Hindu on Sunday, “My son lost an entire academic year as the High Court is yet to start the hearing on the appeal. We thought of launching a Gandhian style of agitation from the school to the State capital to highlight our demand. I will accompany him.”

Asim, born without hands and with 90% disabilities, is quite active in arts and cultural events. The Education Department had upgraded the only government lower primary (LP) school in his village to an upper primary (UP) school after he launched a campaign in 2015.

What the Act mandates

The government, however, rejected his request to upgrade it to a high school. In his petition to the High Court, Asim had contended that provisions of the Right to Education Act ensured mandatory education for every child up to Class 8 within a three-km radius. There was no government high school in the grama panchayat either. The court dismissed 133 of the 134 petitions from across the State, which sought to upgrade LP schools to UP schools.

Mr. Yamani said it was difficult for his son to go to the nearest high school around 5 km away. “We have informed the Education Department that their promise to arrange a vehicle to take him to the high school is not practical for us. Asim is not keen on their suggestion for home-based education either,” he added.

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