MALAPPURAM: KT Haroon Kareem , a visually challenged student from Mankada near here, who created history by becoming the first student in the state to write the SSLC examination with assistive technology (using computer and latest software, and without the help of a scribe) passed with full A plus grades. During the announcement of the SSLC results on Tuesday, Education Minister C Raveendranath specifically mentioned the name of Haroon and congratulated him for his achievement.
After the special announcement of the minister, Haroon was flooded with wishes and messages from various parts of the state. “The special mention from the education minister made me extremely happy. After the results came out, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, education department officials, teachers, friends and relatives called me. The appreciation from the people makes me more responsible to achieve my goals,” he said.
The 15-year-old, a student of Government Higher Secondary School, Mankada, said he proved that it is possible for a visually challenged student to write examination without the help of a scribe. He used the software called In- Spy to write the examinations and take printouts of the answer sheets. “By successfully using the technology, I proved that any visually challenged student can achieve high grades in exams without the help of scribes.
I want to be an inspiration for the visually challenged students in the world to use assistive technology to take examinations,” he added. Haroon’s dream is to become a software engineer and do his graduation from Stanford University, US. His parents Abdul Kareem T K and Sabeera said they will help their son to achieve his dream.