Blind, but not broken

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Farhana Akhter Shompa
Armed with a white stick Mahima walks to her class at Dhaka University. Sometimes she would ask help from other students while walking from her Rokeya Hall dormitory to the Arts Building.
Mahima, a Sociology student, is blind. She has overcome her lack of eyesight with great determination and help from the family. As she successfully completed her first four years in the university, the lanky girl waits to get admission to he Masters, the final year of her university education.
However, Mahima grumbles about many things in the university. "There is, for example, no separate seat number for the blind when they appear in exam," says Mahima. "Sometimes, we are transferred from one seat to another. This disturbs our attention. We loose time too."
The blind students are supposed to get 30-minute extra time considering their physical disabilities. But they are sometimes deprived of the concession.
"Teachers at the exam hall hurry us soon after the normal time ends," says Mahima. "We are usually given not more than 15 minutes in extra time."
Mahima says that she has disadvantages in studies compared to the normal students. When class assignments are given by the teachers they do not always consider the special problem faced by students like Mahima. While the normal students can easily consult reference books, disabled students like Mahima have to rely on sympathetic class or roommates.
"I suffered typhoid when I was four and I lost my eyesight because of that," recalls Mahima while cooking rice on an electric heater at Rokeya Hall. But her courage, determination and talent have brought her to the highest seat of learning, a feat her seven other siblings could not achieve despite being normal.
Many other blind students like Mahima are overcoming their physical disability in making it to the university level.
Today's blind students would often refer to Leena Parvin Chowdhury, the first female blind student at Dhaka University and Mansur Hossain Chowdhury, the university's first blind male student. They were among about 100 blind students who had successfully passed from Dhaka University in the past. The university has now 35 blind students among its nearly 30,000 students.
Appearing at exam is a big hazard for the blind students. They are to take help from the junior students from a different department to protect against cheating.
"It is difficult to make others understand our problem. It does not always help to write the exam scripts with help from students from other departments. They don't understand many things," says Mahima. The responsibility of recruiting the help lies with the blind students.
The examinees themselves are to submit written proof that the help is a genuine student. It so happens that the blind students remain busy finding the help and getting their studentship certificates just a day before the exam. Thus the blind students get distracted from their exam preparations.
The blind students want special books for them in the university library. "This would have helped us a lot," says one blind student. With more help and facilities the blind students would have done better in exam.
Says Prof. Kazi Shahidullah, Dean of the Arts Faculty: "Many blind students are now coming to study in the university. They are very determined and committed to their studies. All of us, especially the teachers should help them more so they can do better."
About the need of keeping Brail books in the library he says: "Library books are a big problem for the blind students. Authorities should consider their demand."
A national association for the welfare of the blind is trying to reach to the blind students and helping them in their pursuit of higher studies.
Says Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, Chairman of National Association for the Welfare of the Blind: "We believe that all of us should come forward to help the blind." He also urges the government to do more so that the blind people can overcome many barriers and start a career. He says his association provides Tk. 400-a-student-a-month scholarship to the university-level blind students.
"In the next step the government should create jobs for them," he points out.
The blind students have also called for creating jobs for them. Kamol, an organisation of blind students at the Dhaka University, has recently drawn public attention to their problems. It has demanded that jobs for the blind are created both in public and private sectors. The good news is that the government recently has decided to keep one percent quota for the blind students in BCS cadre services.
That has encouraged Nazia, the first student ever to read in Dhaka University's Mass Communication and Journalism Department. There is, she says, ray of hope for the blind students. Nazia was in two minds about her decision to study journalism and mass communication. She appreciates the help she gets from teachers and classmates.
"My teachers take care of me. So do my classmates. I'm grateful to them," says Nazia.

— NewsNetwork