100% visually challenged student competes in school games, thanks his teacher with a song

Thiruvananthapuram: The ‘Inclusive Sports’ section at the Kerala State School Sports & Games witnessed several heartwarming scenes on Wednesday. One such incident involved P Muhammed Refine, a 100 per cent visually challenged student from Malappuram, and his teacher Midhila M Mohan.

Refine, also a talented singer who has won several prizes for Mappilapattu and light music at various school events, competed in the standing long jump. During the competition, Midhila gave him instructions in a loud voice, “swing both your arms. Jump towards me.”

The teacher’s words were music to Refine. He smiled and, jumped with enthusiasm and cleared over 1.9 m in a single leap. Eyes overflowing with tears of joy, Midhila ran towards her student and hugged him. Refine told her, “During the jump, teacher’s voice served as my target, guiding me.”

Refine was among the six students from Malappuram district who participated in the standing long jump event for students aged above 14 years. He is a Class 9 student at GHSS, Palappetty. Midhila took over the post of Special Educator for differently abled students in schools under Ponnani Urban Resource Centre, which covers the Palappetty school, six years ago.

Even though Refine competed in the state school games, his first love is music, and his dream is to be a composer. The youngest of the four children of the late Muhammed and Amina of Panathur, Refine regularly posts his singing videos on Instagram, where he has nearly 50K followers. He also writes his songs and composes music.

Recognising his musical talent, KE ALP School manager Suresh and some others joined hands to gift him a large keyboard.

During Wednesday’s school games, Refine sang a devotional song he wrote for Midhila teacher: “Qalbil kulir thennalekum vazhum nidhi… thinkal nabi”, which roughly translates as, “you are a treasure… a breeze that cools the heart…”