Srinagar: The parents of Naseema(name changed), a schoolgirl blinded by pellets in the ongoing unrest in the Valley, had approached the Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School Education (JKBOSE) with a simple argument that how would the poor student prepare for exams when she is unable to see anything.
The parents had approached the JKBOSE authorities in the wake of a scheme being publicized by the government that the students wounded in the ongoing unrest would be offered “helper or amanuensis” to sit in the upcoming exams for class 10th and 12th.
But the response from the JKBOSE authorities was “shocking.” “The candidate will have to prepare for exams herself and we can’t help it because there are no such norms,” the officials are understood to have told the parents.
Sources said in the last around a month the JKBOSE confronted this argument from parents, students and others in the civil society several times.
Officials said till now around mere two dozen of the blinded students have approached the government hospitals including SMHS Hospital and the SKIMS Soura here to get certificate of disability to appear in exams whereas majority of others are unable to face the papers.
Officials said the case of blinded-candidates has emerged as a big “constitutional issue” for the JKBOSE as this competent authority has “no prescribed norms in the statues to offer Braille facility to its exam applicants under such unusual conditions, where the candidate who has studied in normal school suddenly needs Braille or other aids.”
“Frankly speaking the argument being posed in case of pellet-blinded applicants is quite valid that how will they prepare for exams unless they are offered learning aids,” said a top official in the JKBOSE asking not to be named.
During an informal chat with Kashmir Observer, he said the pellet-blinded students were a major challenge and that JKBOSE cannot do justice with their career unless the government formulates proper guidelines for their education.
“Such students cannot suddenly be made to learn Braille. On the other hand we cannot set Braille papers because we have no norms for doing so,” the official said adding the JKBOSE was contemplating to consult legal experts.
The JKBSOE official said the issue was recently discussed with the concerned minister who has assured that the matter would be picked up with the Chief Minister for draft of a “rehabilitation policy.”
In the wake of ongoing unrest, around 1,100 youth mainly students have been blinded by the pellets, while the government is offering them the facility of “helper or amanuensis”.
Despite public outcry over conduct of exams from next week, when students are yet to complete even 50 % of their syllabus, the government is hell-bent to go ahead with the exams.
The civil society has been saying that holding of exams in such conditions will be detrimental for the students.
Prominent civil society face, Dr Peer GN Suhail who heads the Kehwa Talk has compared the government decision with mass copying of 1991. “In Kashmir, intelligence and capabilities of those who passed 10th and 12th class exams in 1991 has always remained questionable… Now in 2016, department of education has reversed the clock to 1991, asking students to attempt only 50 % of questions,” Dr Suhail said who has been roping in noted ophthalmologists from outside state for treatment of such cases.
Doctors said in past four months, at least 500 pellet victims have been youngsters below 20 years of age, and most of them are students.
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