Who will teach this girl?

No maths and science teachers willing to take up the challenge of teaching Kalgi Raval, who is blind but wants to take class X exams
By Yogesh Avasthi, Harsh Vora
Posted On Thursday, September 03, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20Latest&sectid=2&contentid=2009090320090903023601109c31d0552)
Many schoolchildren in the city find it difficult to enlist good tuition teachers. But, the problem is particularly daunting for Kalgi Raval and her parents. The 14-year-old girl has been blind since birth, but doesn’t know Braille, the system of reading in which a series of raised dots signify letters of an alphabet. Her education is completely dependent on oral mode of teaching.

Kalgi, who has received formal schooling till only class V, wants to take class X examinations next year, and desperately needs tutors for maths and science. Her parents, Meena and Tikendra Raval, have approached more than 20 tuition teachers, but none of them has the heart — or time — to take up the formidable task of teaching a girl suffering from vision impairment.

“My daughter is a very bright girl. She has been visually impaired since birth, but knows three languages, English, Hindu and Gujarati,” Meena said. “Before she opted out of school almost four years ago, she used to score good marks in exams.”

Meena said that Kalgi decided to take class X exams after months of contemplation at their residence in Ghatlodia. “She is a quick learner, but she cannot study mathematics and science on her own. She needs help of private tutors, who can teach her in English,” she said. “In the past two months, we have approached several tutors and have even offered them more money, but to little avail.”

Kalgi’s mother said that only maths and science tutors were acting pricey. “We have managed to get teachers for other subjects,” Meena said. Kalgi, who loves music and has even lent her voice for a couple of radio commercials, said that she had given up playing synthesiser to spend more studying.

“I want to do well in class X exams. It’s one of the most important goals of my life,” she said. “I fail to fathom why no one is willing to take a little effort to teach me the two subjects.”

The 14-year-old girl, who stopped going to school partly because she was not happy with the way some teachers and classmates treated her, said that she was fed up with private tutors turning her down. “Every time I and my parents phone mathematics and science teachers, they give same excuses: ‘It’s too difficult, we don’t have time’,” Kalgi said. “It’s really disappointing.”

On why Kalgi was not taught Braille, Meena said that experts advised her to raise the girl as a normal child. “They (experts) examined Kalgi and felt her level of intelligence had not been stunted by vision impairment. They advised us to send her to a regular school,” Meena said.

Undaunted by vision impairment, Kalgi said that she would bravely face every challenge in her life. “My father has taught me to fearlessly square up to difficult situations,” she said.

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