Shy and self effacing, Saniya Zehra, does not want her feat talked about, not until she realizes her dream of becoming a lawyer, but the principal at her National Institute of the Visually Handicapped (NIVH) in Dehradhun is not so reticent. He lost no time to ring up Zehra’s father, Abid Gowhar, to tell him that his daughter had broken all previous records of the institute in the CBSE examination for Class 10 when results where declared on May 28.
Blind from birth, Zehra had scored 9 grade points in four out of five subjects with a rating of A-2, the highest ever in the institute of the visually impaired, considered to be the largest such school in Asia.
A banker and broadcaster, Gowhar had tried in vain to find a school in the state suitable for his highly talented daughter to foster the promise she had displayed at quite a young age.
But the lack of such a facility here had finally convinced him to send Saniya to far away Dehradhun for the special education she deserved and wanted.
The NIVH received her withj open arms at the age of 11, inducting her straight into Class 5 because of her superior IQ.
And the daughter has done the father proud, by excelling in Hindi, Sanskrit, Vocal Music, Social Sciences and English, and re-writing the record books in the process.
Proud though they are of their daughter’s achievement, Saniya’s parents are deeply concerned about the fate of the hundreds like her in Kashmir who may not get the same opportunities.
With a blind population said to top the list in the whole of India, the state of Jammu and Kashmir does not have an appropriate facility to nurture the special gifts of visually impaired children.
Gowhar has been trying hard to get the state to fashion a school on the NIVH pattern, but his vigourous write-ups in newspapers and magazines highlighting the dire need appear to have fallen on deaf ears.
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