Friday, May 13, 2016

A brave child of Lyari Karachi








KARACHI: As ninth-graders at a government school in Lyari scrambled to their seats with their pens and answer books to give their board exam, 15-year old Abdul Baqi lied on his side at a table, holding a pen with both hands, solving questions as fast as he could.

The severely disabled child had arrived in a pram to give his exam. He was too small for his age, his limbs were twisted and his spinal chord had not developed properly. Hence, he had trouble controlling his movements.

Yet, his moral was high, and despite missing out five years from his studies he had managed to cope up, his father said. “Now he even gives tuitions to grade six students who arrive every day at our house,” he said.

“He is very smart, he can read the Quran and I hope he can achieve all that he dreams of,” said his proud father, waiting outside the exam centre. Inside, Baqi wrote frantically. “I want to be a software engineer when I grow up, Children gathered around him as exam ended. Perhaps because they had never seen anyone like him before. Or perhaps because he had motivated him to study harder. And more importantly dream big.

When he finished the paper, the invigilator was surprised. “He is a

 very intelligent child. In the 30 minute multiple choice answer

 part, most children left out two to three questions.

 But Baqi attempted all 10 in the time span.” It was disheartening to

 know that the board administration had done absolutely nothing to

 ease his plight. Providing him with a writer, who could pen down

 his thought, could have been the least they could have done.

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