Soham is now studying at Joshi Bedekar College, Thane, which is conducting a special programme called Atulya for differently-abled children (Representative image)
Soham completed his education till class 10 at Pragati Blind School in Badlapur. After that, he enrolled in Joshi Bedekar College, Thane. Along with his college education, he also joined Sarathi Coaching, which educates blind students
As the saying goes, if there is a will, there is a way. Facing all the adversities in life like vision disability, extreme poverty, his mother’s long illness, and losing his mother at the time of admission in class 12, Soham Kumar Bhatt from Thane, Maharashtra remained firm in life’s storm and achieved great success in the Maharashtra board HSC exams.
He studied diligently and secured 80 percent marks in the 12th examination. Often parents say that students need comfort to study well but Soham achieved great success by living in a small rented room of ten by ten. He himself did all the hard work and his father never had to instruct him to study.
Soham completed his education till class 10 at Pragati Blind School in Badlapur. After that, he enrolled in Joshi Bedekar College, Thane. Along with his college education, he also joined Sarathi Coaching, which educates blind students. Soham says, “When I was studying in Joshi Bedekar College, we were given recorded notes to study and in Sarathi, I was also given recorded notes.” Therefore, Soham has prepared by listening to those notes. He insists on taking benefits from activities at college.
Soham is now studying at Joshi Bedekar College, Thane, which is conducting a special programme called Atulya for differently-abled children. A total of 67 students are enrolled in this programme. “This kind of initiative is helpful in encouraging kids like us. It inculcates the spirit that we are second to none and we can do many things like other children,” Soham said adding that principal Suchitra Naik and Professor Swapnil Mayekar provided him with better guidance.
When Soham was studying in Pragati blind school he had heard the name of Pranjali Patil, who was blind and studied at the same school. But, her disability couldn’t deter her from pursuing her goal to become an IAS officer and she finally made it. Soham has made Pranjali his ideal and is all set to work hard to crack the IAS examination.
Like Soham, six other vision-disabled students also passed the MSBSHSE 12th exams. Soham is not alone in his journey to clear class 12th exams with flying colours. Six more blind students like Soham have cleared their 12th standard examination. They got this success because of Atulya which was initiated to inspire the students who are differently abled. Suchitra Naik, principal of Joshi Bedekar College, said that the success of Soham has given recognition to their initiative.
His family had to sell the rickshaw during his mother’s prolonged illness. Telling the stories of their woes, Soham’s father says, “I had to go to the hospital frequently and it was for long hours during Soham’s mother’s illness. During this period, the rickshaw service remained closed for several days.” However, since he had purchased the rickshaw on loan so he could not keep it closed for so many days. Therefore, he sold the rickshaw which used to be the only source of livelihood. It broke the family financially and Soham’s mother couldn’t be saved. He said further, “After Soham’s mother’s demise, I had to stay at home to take care of Soham. But my elder son started working as a courier boy and helped financially to run the house.”
