Eyeway Stories

One call changed everything: A blind youth’s path to teaching

Twenty-five-year-old Pramod Kumar was born sighted into a farmer family in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh. At the age of five, Pramod had a reaction to some medicine that resulted in vision loss. For the next several years, his parents kept shopping for medical solutions to fix his eyesight but to no avail. 

During this time, Pramod didn’t go to school and was confined to his home. As he grew older, the parents thought of educating him to some degree so he could get a job to self-sustain. Pramod managed to complete Class X and XII through open schooling. 

While studying, he came in touch with another blind person who told him about the Eyeway Helpdesk. Pramod connected with our counselor seeking career guidance. The counselor apprised him of options to pursue graduation and higher degrees through mainstream colleges. He was also advised to acquire computer learning skills in order to study and work independently alongside sighted people. 

Pramod got his BA, MA and B.Ed. degrees from Chitrakoot University and also learned braille and computers. But during his MA, his family’s financial status forced him to search for jobs. The Eyeway counselor helped look for suitable vacancies and found a teaching opportunity in a primary school in Mathura. 

With help from the counselor, Pramod applied and secured the job. Now the next hurdle was operating a salary account independently, but his bank denied issuing an ATM card on grounds of blindness. Once again, the counselor helped him out by sharing the banking guidelines issued by Reserve Bank of India and speaking to the bank officials advocating for Pramod’s equal right to financial services. 

He is currently teaching at the school in Mathura, where his boarding and lodging is also provided for. However, the counselor is in constant touch urging him to upskill and aim for higher roles in the academic field. Pramod is simultaneously preparing for competitive exams which will make him eligible to apply for government teaching post. 

Team Eyeway

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