Blind Kerala student writes class X exam using laptop

MALAPPURAM: When Haroon Karim T K, a blind Class X student of GVHSS Mankada in the district wrote SSLC examination using a laptop on Tuesday, it created a history. It is for the first time that a student used a laptop for writing public examination in the state.
Haroon used laptop for writing Malayalam Paper 1 examination with a special permission from the general education department.A separate classroom was arranged for Haroon to write exam.
Haroon said it was comfortable for him to write examination using a laptop provided by school authorities. “The examination started at 9.45am. An invigilator, who is also an IT expert, supported me by reading out questions one after the other during 15-minute long cool off time and it helped me to be well-prepared to start typing answers, by 10am.
“I managed to finish the examination by 11.30am, without availing an additional time granted by the school authorities. The invigilator later took prints out my answer paper and attached them with the main sheet with register number and other details,” he said
Haroon used screen reader software to listen to the answers he wrote during the exam. He is planning to use infty editor software for typing signs and formulas for science and mathematics examinations.