Thiruvananthapuram: Former chief minister Oommen Chandy has urged Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to upgrade the Velimanna government LP School, Kozhikode, to high school so that Mohammed Asim, 12, who is physically challenged, can continue his studies.
Asim, a native of Kozhikode, does not have hands and suffers from a 90 percent disability. He has passed class 7 from the school which is hardly 250 metres from his house. The nearest higher secondary school is at least five km from his home. For Asim, who needs the help of his parents to commute and go about his daily life, shifting to a far-away school is difficult.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi, during his recent visit to Kochi, had promised all help to the boy, who wants that the school should be upgraded to high school. The previous UDF government had upgraded it from the lower primary to upper primary school.
Mr Chandy said in a letter sent to Mr Pinarayi Vijayan that Asim has already lost one crucial year.
“Despite the State Human Rights Commission and High Court passing orders in favour of Asim, the LDF government has not taken a positive stand,” said Mr Chandy in the letter written on the directive of Mr Rahul Gandhi. Mr Chandy urged Mr Pinarayi Vijayan to take a humanitarian stand on the issue.
Asim and his father, Mohammed Shaheed, a madrasa teacher at Omasserry in Kozhikode, had met Rahul Gandhi when he came to visit the family members of the late KPCC working president M. I. Shanavas. The child writes with his legs.
