Braving the odds: Students overcome physical and financial difficulties

Even paralysis couldn’t stop her go to school Pooja Raut, a science student of Guru Nanak Junior College, was paralysed (lower body) since she was 5 months old. When she started going to school, she felt a bit different from others. Her father used to carry her in arms and drop her to classroom till Std VIII. “During my practical exams and experiments, my teachers would tell me to observe the experiments carefully.They even helped me in jotting down the readings for the experiment,” said Pooja.
She has undergone an operation after which she is able to use artificial support for basic movements.
Writes exam with saline in one hand
Aniket Bhende, a student of Hislop College, is visually impaired from the age of 6. But, his strong will power has made him stand out like a champion with 88% marks in Arts. In fact, just a few days before his board exams, he was suffering from viral fever. “I went to write the exams with saline in one hand and guided by nurse. It became difficult for me to concentrate” said Aniket.
His writer for the exam Unati Namulkar was very supportive and understanding towards him even when he was not able to speak a word. “She did her job best and was very cooperative” he added. He used audio files and Braille book during studies as being an Arts stream student reading textbooks is extremely necessary.
No money, he borrowed books to write exam
Shaktiman Prajapati is a perfect example of how one can turn adversity into an opportunity. He comes from an extremely poor family but that did not deter him from scoring 78% in HSC exam. Studying at NMC junior college, he scored 97 marks in mathematics. Shaktiman belongs to a below poverty line family where all five members live in a single room. “I studied hard for this, I used to borrow books from my teacher as I was not able to afford them,” said Shaktiman. The Prajapati family shifted to Nagpur eight years ago in search of better life and education for their children.“ I want to be a mechanical engineer and change economic condition of my family, all their hopes are on me” said Shaktiman.
Interviews: Anupriya Mathai & Viraj Deshpande