Madhya Pradesh: Visually, hearing, speech-impaired woman to appear for Class 10 board exams

INDORE: Of thousands of students who are set to appear for the Class 10 board examinations from March 1 in Madhya Pradesh, 32-year-old Indore resident Gurdeep Kaur Vasu is the most special. Gurdeep Vasu is a hearing, speech-impaired and also visually challenged woman, but her physical disabilities have failed to deter her from pursuing studies and aiming high in life.

She is passionate about studies and like any other student appearing for the crucial exams, dreams of a bright future after clearing the tests.

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Talking to PTI, Indore district education officer (DEO) Mangesh Kumar Vyas on Monday said Gurdeep Vasu had applied to appear for the Class 10 exams as a private candidate.

"To my knowledge, this is the first case in the history of the state's board of secondary education, where a person who is deaf, mute and visually impaired will appear for the high school certificate exams,” Vyas said.

Gurdeep Vasu is a promising student and has prepared a lot for the exams. So, the education department wishes that whatever she has learnt while studying gets recorded in her answer sheet during the tests, he said. At the exam centre, the specially abled student will be with provided a writer, who will be an expert in sign language, to help her write tests as per rules of the Board of Secondary Education. Anand Service Society, an NGO (non-governmental organization) working for divyangs (persons with disabilities), conducted special classes to prepare her for the examinations.

The NGO's sign language expert and director, Monika Purohit, said Gurdeep Vasu communicates with people by pressing their hands and fingers, and the same method is used to communicate with her. Responding in sign language to a question posed by PTI about her future plans, Gurdeep Vasu said she aspires to get a job related to computers in an office. She has opted for social sciences, English, painting and science as special subjects for the Class 10 exams, Purohit.

Her sister Harpreet Kaur Vasu (26), who helped her prepare for the exams, said, "She always insists that the lessons taught to her in class be repeated at home with the help of Braille. Her passion for education motivates me to study after her tutorials.” Gurdeep Vasu was born premature and kept in the hospital for quite some time after her birth because of health issues, said her mother Manjeet Kaur.

When she was five months old, her family realised that she could not speak, hear or see. Manjeet Kaur alleged that her daughter suffers from these disabilities due to the negligence of doctors after her birth. Gurdeep Vasu had wished to go to school every day like a normal child, but there was no educational institute in the city for special kids, Manjeet Kaur rued. The state government should set up special schools for such children, she said.