Kartik Sawhney said, “The journey was discouraging at times. But it’s satisfying to have gotten into Stanford, which has a support system for visually-challenged students.”
Kartik Sawhney, a blind teen from New Delhi, India, has had to fight the education system in his country to be allowed to study the subjects that he loves. In India, math and science courses are not provided for visually-impared students after 8th grade due to the heavy visual aspect of the subjects. In fact, the Times of India reports that when Sawhney asked to be allowed to take the courses India’s Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was opposed to the idea.
George Abraham, CEO of Delhi’s Score Foundation, told the Times, “After class VIII, most blind were exempted from studying maths and science. They would be offered subjects like music. Now, some schools allow science but the number is low.”
If the CBSE had prevailed, Sawhney would have been done with math and science years ago. But after writing more than two dozen letters, getting the help of an NGO to campaign for him, and his high school to step in and negotiate with the CBSE, Sawhney was finally allowed to take High School math and science courses. He said, “It was very difficult to convince the authorities to let me study science,” but once the board approved his school was more than willing to find ways to help him. He explained, “For practicals, the teacher explained the apparatus and in the test, I got multiple choice questions based on the practical curriculum.”
Although it was a difficult battle it has more than paid off. Sawhney scored a 96% on his senior exams, and will be studying Computer Science at Stanford this coming fall. He told NDTV that the education system in India needs to be more “sensitive and tolerant towards the disabled.” Sawhney said:
I would love to pursue my studies in my country, but the depressing guidelines of IIT-JEE last year have made it impossible for blind students to appear in the JEE (joint entrance exam) … We need to embrace change and the examination body was simply not willing to change the guidelines. They said they would not allow a scribe with a science background, saying that he would help me cheat.
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Sawhney plans to become a software developer and create applications that are accessible to people with different types of disabilities.
Watch the NDTV interview with this inspiring young man here.
Photo: NDTV Screenshot
After some time as subjects syllabus increase, it can be difficult for visually challenged students to continue. But there must be some support system for visually-challenged students. Thanks for sharing this article.