Jorhat, June 1: Lost eyesight has not held back visually-impaired students in three blind schools from doing well in the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examinations, the results of which were announced yesterday.

The only candidate from Moran Blind School in Upper Assam's Dibrugarh district, Monti Das, passed the exam with distinction (85 per cent) while nine of the 10 students in Guwahati Blind High School secured first division and one got a second division.

The Jorhat Blind School students all secured second division, including the one who had failed last year.

While Moran Blind School, set up by the late Major S.N. Banerjee in 1971, is a private institute run by his son and actor Victor Banerjee with help from sponsors, the other two are government-run.

Monti, a resident of Ouphulia tea estate, told The Telegraph that she would like to be a singer and study in the science stream.

The principal of the school, Verghese Chirakkal, said Monti was a visharad in Hindustani vocal music from the Bhatkhande Sangeet Vidyalaya, Lucknow, and sang beautifully. "Monti sings very well but she is not aware of the difficulty she might face while studying science. There are practicals and drawings."

Chirakkal said Monti would go to Guwahati to enrol in the Indian Institute of Research and Development on Differently-Abled, which was set up last year and offers education in the higher secondary level to the physically handicapped, including the visually impaired.

Praising Monti's achievement, Banerjee said, "She did brilliantly, achieving 86 per cent with letter marks in three subjects - Assamese 86, maths 80 and social science 80." He said Monti was a lovely girl; soft spoken, always radiant, a kind spirit.

She was, however, always upto the mark whenever he had tested her on things like her grasp of Chinese.

"The school teaches the language for fun and is spoken when chowmein is served to our children, twice a month, on Saturdays," he said, adding that Monti also had a beautiful voice and sang like a lark.

Last year, two students who had appeared from the school, had got first division.

In Jorhat, the six students who passed the exam this year were Parbati Karmakar, Monalisa Bora, Gangamoni Gowala, Swapna Das, Ritamoni Saikia and Sunita Das. Parbati scored 80 in maths.

The principal of Guwahati Blind High School, Bhaben Barman, attributed the success to the hard work of the students and the teachers, who are trained in Braille.

Located at Pilingkata near Basistha, the school has 15 teachers. It also has residential facilities with separate hostels for girls and boys.

Additional reporting by Sumir Karmakar