KARACHI: Special students, who were position holders in Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi’s (BIEK) Higher Secondary School Certificate humanities regular group exams, want people to not think of them as useless individuals.

This was conveyed on Monday by young Fahad Ahmed of Ida Rieu College for Deaf. Fahad, who stood first in the exams with 992 out of a total of 1,100 marks and a 90.18 percentage, said he was a good artist, who has won first prizes in provincial and national poster competitions. He wants to continue his education in fine arts but also wants the security of a job. Gesturing through sign language, the young man said his teachers and friends knew sign language so he could communicate with them but sometimes even parents of deaf and mute children did not know sign language. He wished everyone learned sign language.

Saqib Ali Mallah of Aghosh Special Children Higher Secondary School, who was second with 987 marks and a percentage of 89.73, also said he was pained to be thought as useless by others. He said he wanted to specialise in computers.

Hamza Abdul Rasheed of Dewa Higher Secondary School, who was third with 985 marks and a percentage of 89.55, said his entire family save a baby sister was deaf and mute. He said he had been supporting his education by doing odd jobs as his father did. These days both the father and son are working in garments but he also wanted to specialise in computers and be considered a respectable citizen.

In response to the candidates airing their concerns and wishes, BIEK chairman Mohammad Akhtar Ghori offered the position holders jobs within the board. He promised to also write to the government to address their issues and award them scholarships so that they could continue their education without having to worry about fees.

BIEK on Monday also announced the results of humanities regular and private groups with diploma in physical education. All the top three position holders in humanities regular group hail from Iqra Huffaz Degree College. Hafiza Asna Siddiqui was first with 945 out of a total of 1,100 marks, Hafiza Haniya Waqas was second with 942 marks and Hafiza Lubaba Mustaqeem was third with 930 marks. What was remarkable about the trio was that they were also the top three when the matric final results were announced two years ago.

The top position holder in humanities private group, Areeba Sohail, who got 863 out of 1,100 marks, was absent. Maria Azam Khan was second with 833 marks and Maryam Rab Nawaz was third with 829 marks.

All the top three position holders of each group were presented with Dr Ishratul Ibad gold medals with cash prizes of Rs100,000 for the top position holder, Rs50,000 for second and Rs30,000 for the third besides the certificates and gifts.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2016