A visually-impaired Corriverton Primary School girl secured a spot at one of the nation’s top secondary schools at the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) 2021.
Twelve-year-old Afeefa Ally, of Number 76 Village, Corriverton, earned a place at St Stanislaus College with 502 marks. The Corriverton Primary school student is the eldest of two and her parents are both teachers who worked alongside her since her diagnosis at just five months old.
Her mother, Asfana Ally, told this newspaper that Afeefa was born premature and at first, the family thought she was just slowly developing. However, after noticing that she was not responding to her environment, the family took her to the Port Mourant Hospital where she was referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital before eventually visiting the Balwant Singh Hospital. There, the family was finally able to get answers and Afeefa was diagnosed.
Since then, her family has been putting in the extra effort to help Afeefa accomplish her goals. Her mother said that she is a very enthusiastic child who enjoys learning and that Afeefa was not taught like other children. According to Asfana, because of her daughter’s disability, the family had to guide her to do everything, “It is easy for others to accomplish the developmental goal. For her to accomplish them it was extra effort from the beginning. Even a simple thing as walking or eating it was an extra effort for us to teach her to develop those skills. A normal child would see and copy. But for her we had to develop strategies to teach her to do those things. Mostly we would do as much “hands-on” as possible.”
Asfana said that Afeefa has always performed well at school. She told this newspaper that Afeefa learns through speaking and she also used this for the exam. “She [Afeefa] is very enthusiastic about learning and that is what contributed to her achievement at the NGSA exam.” The mother noted that for many parents whose child has a disability, it becomes a challenge to figure out ways to teach them but they are hopeful that Afeefa’s accomplishment will encourage other parents to make the extra effort. She said that Afeefa was helped by her grandmother who went to her school and made sure that Afeefa received her work. Then both she and her husband also put in the work to help her with her studies.
“We are very pleased that our effort has paid off we hope that he accomplishment can be a motivation to others like her,” Asfana said, adding that like any other person who is told their child was visually impaired at such a tender age, it was difficult but with faith they had the strength to go on and try their best to give her as much as possible.
Afeefa told this newspaper that preparing for the exam was sometimes hard and other times easy. She said that sometimes the work would be hard to understand. “I feel happy and excited,” she said about her grades and school placement. She is curious about what her new school will be like but her mother has told this newspaper that Afeefa will not be attending St Stanislaus College. She explained that because of her daughter’s needs, she prefers to have her closer to home.
Afeefa, who wants to become a writer, enjoys listening to audiobooks and is currently pursuing a degree in Islamic theology. She has completed almost one year of the studies.
