In a commendable feat, 23-year-old Payal Bhattad, a visually
impaired student at the University of Mumbai topped Masters in Arts (MA) in
history this year.
Bhattad, who hails from Deoli, a small village in Vidarbha
has scored an overall 78% in her final MA exams, topping the batch of over 90
students at the university. Sources said she might be the first student from
any university department to achieve this feat.
“I was confident of
getting a very good score in the exams and always hoped to top. This is like a
dream come true” said an elated Payal. She is now pursuing a BEd at the Xaviers
Institute of Education in Churchgate and wants to take up teaching.
Payal, who has been
visually impaired from birth did her early schooling from Amravati and later
landed in Mumbai after passing her class X. She completed her BA in History
from Wilson College and topped the college at the final exams with 84%. She
later went on to do her MA in History at the University of Mumbai. A national
swimmer, a good writer and a poet, she has been an all-rounder with several
accolades in her credit.
Despite being a bright
student throughout topping the exams did not come easy. “I am not someone who
can study with the help of audio notes. For me, the whole learning process
would involve several stages- downloading PDF copies of reference books,
reading them with a screen reader, type it in my computer and then putting it
in braille for reference. After all this, I would prepare my own answers,”added
Payal.
Manjiri Kamat, head,
Department of History said that it was indeed a proud moment for to see Payal
excelling at the subject with her sheer dedication. “Payal has been an
extremely sincere and confident student from the first day. She has never let
her impairment come in the way of her learning and has never expected any
concessions from anyone. For a student who is visually impaired, excelling in
this manner is a very commendable feat” added Kamat.
Source: DNA- 11th December,2017
