TWENTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD Schemona Sugrim, who became totally blind five years ago, wowed her relatives and teachers after emerging as the top CSEC student from the Guyana Society for the Blind, even though she had little formal schooling.

Sugrim, who hails from Fyrish Village, Corentyne, Berbice, started taking classes last year in preparation to write five subjects at this year’s exams. She secured Grade Two passes in all of her subjects, namely English A, Social Studies, Business, Office Administration and Human and Social Biology.

“I feel overwhelmed. I couldn’t believe it when I heard I got five grade twos,” Sugrim told Guyana Chronicle in an interview at the Society on High Street on Thursday morning.
She credits her teachers for helping her through and other students who would have had experience in writing the exams. “I had to study a lot, and work a lot. I had no high school experience; very little primary education. So my teachers were very, very helpful and I had the support from other students who did it before,” she said.

She recalled having to do a lot of reading and research behind certain topics so as to get up to speed with everyone else.

Sugrim now wants to help other students who may have similar circumstances as hers. “Teaching is what I desire to do. I would like to see other persons in my situation achieve greater things.”

Another student, 44-year-old Dawn Benjamin, of Sanford, West Canje, Berbice, is also proud of her achievements, having gained herself four Grade Twos in English A, Social Studies, Office Administration, and Human and Social Biology.

She wrote five subjects last year but only secured a Grade Two pass in Business. With some encouragement, she returned this year to write over the ones she failed. “I feel excellent! I am now the holder of five Grade Twos. I was more confident this time. Last year, the scribe I had was very challenging and disappointing. But this year, I got a very good scribe and I put more into it even though I only joined the classes in January,” she said.

Benjamin, who became totally blind at age 14, said she studied whenever she had spare time. Asked about her future endeavors, she said: “My desire is to work with students who have visual impairment.

WANT TO HELP

The opportunity I am having now, I didn’t have back then. So my main focus is to work along with young persons who have impairments to share my experience.”
Seventeen-year-old Shundy Thomas also wrote five subjects and obtained Grade Two passes in Human and Social Biology, Principles of Business and Accounts; and Grade Three passes in English A and Social Studies.
Thomas, who is from Rose Hall, Berbice, said he was able to pass with help from his teachers. “I love reading, so it wasn’t that much of a challenge. I just had to put in some extra time reading at nights.”

Commenting on his experience of using Skype to join in the classes, he said: “It was fun via skype because we got to interact. We came to office once or twice a month but spent most time studying online.”

His goal is to be of help to persons with disabilities and he is especially looking into becoming a teacher of American Sign Language.

Executive member of the Society, Ganesh Singh, told reporters that when the programme started five years ago, the Society catered for persons with any disabilities.
He thanked the Ministry of Education for supporting the programme from its inception and the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) for providing free Internet. He also thanked Theresa Pemberton who volunteers a lot of her time and resources to the students, and Genevieve Mc Donald from Heaven’s Care Daycare for the elderly.

He reported that another student, Hazel Morris, who is in her 50s and is the oldest candidate of the batch, wrote two subjects and obtained a Grade Two and a Grade Three .
Singh said the Society was especially proud of Sugrim because she basically “started from scratch”.

another member of the Society, Julie Lewis, said they are exceedingly proud of the students and encouraged anyone out there with disabilities to come forward if they want to continue their education.

“If you are out there and still want to achieve your goals, please come in. Not that we have a magic bullet here but we spend more time working with you because we understand your circumstances,” she assured.