MADURAI: The Class 12 board examination results that were announced on Thursday seemed to add to the commonalities V Sivaranjan and R Sabareesh had as the Dindigul lads completed schooling in the St Joseph's Higher Secondary School for Blind on the outskirts of Madurai by scoring near similar marks -- 535 and 534 respectively on a total of 600.
Sivaranjan, who enrolled in the special school as a Class 9 student, shares his success story with TNIE: "I am visually challenged since birth. Hence, I follow the 'Braille' method. My friends and teachers also helped me read texts. I have been able to grasp and memorise lessons when they are read out to me.”
The residential student, who scored 455 on 500 in Class X boards, has repeated success by becoming school topper. Conveying gratitude to his parents and siblings for their “enormous support”, Sivaranjan reveals that he aspires to pursue a bachelor’s in English literature and thereafter try his hand in the civil service examinations.
His classmate, Sabareesh, who lost his vision over time, didn’t let his score of 255/500 in the Class 10 boards deter him from aiming big.
"I studied in a hostel, regularly spending at least two hours on my studies. If I hear the lessons once, I could recall them anytime as I don't have any other distractions like TV and mobile phone that normal students do. I expected good marks,” he added.
Extending his gratitude to his school faculty members and parents, who are agricultural labourers, for their support, Sabareesh said he wants to become a teacher to “guide the younger generation”.
Sharing similar success, two girl inmates of the Annai Sathya Government Orphanage Home battled against several odds to score 393 and 377 marks respectively in the Class 12 boards. The girls, who were orphaned when they were small , said they aspire to pursue BSc in Computer Science.