An enlightening example
EXCELLENCE: Renuga Devi of Karur.
Eager and haltingly, she runs her hands on the dotted lines of the Braille book and at the end of a search lasting a minute or two, her face lights up. "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - , I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference,'' recited R. Renuga Devi, who has just celebrated her 15th birthday which was a pretty special, coming as it does after her sparkling show in the recent SSLC examinations, in which the visually challenged student of CSI Girls Higher Secondary School here secured 445 out of a possible 500. And not many in the State like her would have surpassed her total.
Renuga Devi was not just reading out a poem but was succinctly pointing out the sort of stuff she is made of.
Resilience seems to be her middle name, as one finds that she not only had to contend with the visual challenge but also had to weather other socio-economic factors to achieve what she has.
Her parents, R. Ramamurthy and Kanthimathy work as casual labourers in a bleaching unit at Balambalpuram near here and they all reside in a nearby shed, the air filled with the strong odour of the chemicals.
Visually challenged since birth, Renuga Devi, undaunted by the obstacles, was determined to score pretty high marks in the SSLC examinations.
The task before her was simply colossal. First she would attend regular classes where she would listen the teachers.
Then she would meet her resource teacher under the Integrated Education Programme, G. Beula, to get the English lessons transcribed into Braille besides tape recording the lessons in Tamil.
The Lions Club of Karur Majestic had got her tape recorder and some cassettes, besides a few Braille books. Mrs. Beula also prepared the teaching material for Renuga Devi.
She goes home to play the tapes and imbue the lessons in her mind.
All the labour recurred day after day and at the end, she took her examination with the aid of a scribe.
Her efforts have now borne fruit as she came out with flying colours. She has scored 90 and above in Tamil, Mathematics and Social Science.
Renuga Devi, whose preferred subject is history, hopes to become a civil servant one day. While she is determined to achieve that, her immediate priority is to score heavily in the higher secondary examinations too and then become a teacher. "Renuga Devi is also deft in undertaking woollen works, flower vase arrangement, weaving plastic wire fancy bags.
