By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, JULY 21—Vision-2026, a project of NGO Human Welfare Foundation (HWF) has announced to bear all the future educational expenses of Muslim girl, who was a victim of Delhi riots but scored excellent marks in her Std XII examinations.
A labourer’s daughter, Nargis Nasim(17), who studied in Std XII in a government school in Northeast Delhi scored 62 per cent marks in two subjects of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examination bringing smiles on the faces of her family members and relatives.
HWF’s chief executive officer(CEO) Mohammed Naufal said that the house of the girl that was completely gutted during the riots was reapired by the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind(JIH( at a cost of about Rs. 1.84 lakhs. “Our MNGO will now financie the educational cost of the girl”, said Naufal.
Regarding the score, Nargis is surprised saying that she had thought of merely passing the exam and the first class score had left her wonderstruck. “Initially, I thought that clearing the exams alone would be difficult and during my second thought, I felt that I would only get through the exam,” she said.
Her house located in Khajuri Khas was burnt down the next day of February 24 when riots broke out in the locality. She had stepped out of her house along with her relative to appear for the physical education examination and returned home safely. However, the next day the rioters burnt her house and the entire family was forced to take shelter in a rented room in Chandu Nagar where other riot victims were also provided temporary relief shelters as protection from the mayhem and destruction. All her books were lost in the fire set to her house by the rioters. Her family members through donations managed to provide her news book for study.
Nargis could manage to appear only for two subjects-political science and physical education-as the outbreak of COVID 19 led to suspension of the exams till further notice.
Narrating about her harrowing experience, she said “I was with my relative at the time of appearing for physical education at Gokulpuri government school when I saw violence taking place in the area. We reached home at 4 pm but after a lot of struggle wading through the lanes as public transport had shut down,” she said.
On her impressive score, Nargis explained that an NGO helped her with books and guided her in studies which helped her appear in the exams with confidence. “During normal times, I would have done better than my current performance. The CBSE board has now declared that the students can reappear for the cancelled subjects. It is too late and one does not know how long it would take for the conduct of the exams by the board. Right now, I am preparing myself for the college admission,” she said.
Her uncle Salim, who stood rock-solid behind the family during the crisis, said, “ Her achievement is commendable as despite the odd and difficult situation, Nargis scored 60 percent. Her achievement is very important for the family as we have been running helter-skelter seeking shelter and survival during such dangerous and trying time”, he said.
