Perumbavoor: Life dealt one blow after another to K C Velayudhan but he refused to give up. Even before he turned 10, Velayudhan was rendered blind. But he battled on, completing post-graduation and B Ed. Despite his educational qualification, he could not land a job and had to sell lottery tickets for a living. Finally, at the age of 42, K C Velayudhan of Balussery became a teacher at the Government High School at Eloor last January.
The blind man is currently the favourite teacher of the students at the Government Girls' Higher Secondary School in Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district. He uses books in braille script for teaching.
Till class four, Velayudhan had vision in one eye. When he became completely blind, Fr Paul Manawal, the manager of St Antony's LP School at Edakunnu, helped him get admission at the blind school at Neerpara. From class 8 onwards, he studied at the Model Government High School, Kunnamkulam. He cleared class 10 with first class in 1994. He then joined the Kerala Varma College in Thrissur and completed MA.
Later, Velayudhan studied for BEd at the NSS training college in Ottapalam. From then on, he began hunting for a job. However, changes in government norms made his task even more difficult. The power vested in Collectors to recruit blind people was stopped in 2007.
Driven to the wall, he was forced to sell lottery in 2007 and it continued for nine years. He got a chance to to teach the tribals in Attappadi in 2016, but he was back to selling lotteries in 2017.
Luckily, he won the first rank in the PSC exam conducted in 2016, and Velayudhan entered the government service.
A singer too
Blessed with a beautiful voice, Velayudhan occasionally sings at musical events. He won the 'Kalaprathiba' title at the Kunamkulam sub-district school youth festival. He also received the Kamukara Foundation award for the best blind singer in 2003. His songs are available on YouTube as well.
His wife Beena is partially blind.
