Kozhikode: Muhammed Asim, a 12-year-old child with special needs hailing from Velimanna, hit headlines recently, when he wrote a letter to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking upgrade of Government Mappila Lower and Upper Primary School, in the hope that it would help him continue his studies. The boy, who was born without limbs, was promised help from the education department following a favourable order from the Kerala High Court. However, now his father Saeed Yamani feels cheated as the government has appealed against the high court's directive to start eighth standard in the school.
“We really feel like being cheated even after the promise by general education secretary A Shajahan in Thiruvananthapuram. The high court directive came on June 12 and we received the order 10 days later. The government waited for one month, giving us hope that they would not go against it and finally, on July 11, the last day to appeal, they moved against the direction to start class eight,” said Yamani, who was on the way to Kochi to continue his legal battle for his son.
The boy, winner of the state government's Ujwala Balyam honour, will otherwise need to travel a long way to attend class VIII. Justice Anil Narendran, on June 11, directed the education department to upgrade the school after Yamani and GMUPS Upgrade Action Committee moved the high court. But, the department reported that there were only two students left to move to class VIII. The rest of the 37 students got admission in other schools as uncertainty loomed.
The HC had taken note of Asim's plight and ordered the upgrade of the school. The order was noteworthy as the court had dismissed 132 similar applications for upgrade. Asim's father had also approached the Commission for the Protection of Child Rights and the State Human Rights Commission. But the officials now cite the mass leaving of other students as the impediment.
Action committee working convener Sarthaj Ahammed alleged that managements of the schools in the neighbourhood were influencing the ruling party to move against this government school. He added that all the 37 students who took transfer certificates were ready to return to the school, once it was upgraded. “Now when they try to apply for transfer certificate in the Sampoorna site, the school is displayed as 'UP school' and not high school. This is a technical issue,” he said.
Though the family of Asim as well as the action committee were promised by the political leadership, top officials at the department confirm that they were against the idea of promoting the school from the beginning itself. The district level officials gave a negative report, stating that the school had only two students left and all the 37 had taken their TC. They raised this factor in the high court also. However, at the same time, the politicians kept hope in the family alive, hiding the official move.
The school faced a similar dilemma in 2015 when it awaited upgrade as an upper primary institution. The order to upgrade the 94-year-old school came on August 4, 2015 and nearly 90 per cent of students who took TCs returned to the school.
Asim requires the help of his parents at school. The nearest aided school is 6 km away – St. Mary's Higher Secondary School, Koodathai.
"In 2014, when Asim was a class IV student, the school was lower primary. Then, we met then chief minister Oommen Chandy, who listened to our plight and gave immediate directions to upgrade the school to upper primary, enabling our son to continue his studies here," said Yamani.
