Overcoming odds, Yuvraj shines in CBSE Class X results

Neha Saini

Amritsar, May 15

A father is one person, who will fight the world for you, sacrifice his personal dreams, ambitions if it meant a chance to chase a child’s dreams. For Davinder Singh, hailing from Ferozepur, the decision to leave a stable job and a comfortable income that came with it for re-locating to provide education for his son, Yuvraj, was the hardest decision ever. But he never hesitated.

“Today, I look back and I feel zero regret over any of my decisions that ultimately led to Yuvraj getting education in a mainstream school. As a father, I feel proud that I helped my son achieve his goal and got a step closer to realising his dreams,” shared Davinder. Yuvraj Singh, a student of Spring Dale School, bagged the top score of 89 per cent in district in the CBSE Class X board results in Children With Special Needs category. And Yuvraj managed to achieve this score after putting in hours of learning, overcoming his speech difficulties due to cerebral palsy and fighting against the stigma people with disabilities often face.

Yuvraj was born with his disabilities, but he refuses to let them define him. “He is a very confident boy. When we decided to move to Amritsar from Ferozepur, I had several doubts. I did not know if I was making the right decision to leave everything, including a joint family, our agriculture land, job, to ensure that my child studied in a mainstream school among other children. But Yuvraj, who was nine-year-old at the time, assured me that he will do everything possible to make this dream happen for us and him,” shared an overwhelmed Davinder, who cannot stop expressing his pride over his son’s achievement. Davinder and his wife, Amarjit Kaur both worked dedicatedly along with Yuvraj to support his learning, to participate in his development and to engage the best speech therapists, translators to help him prepare for boards. “It is a challenge for parents, first to fight the stigma that comes with having a child born with physical disabilities.

Also, for people in small towns, there are no resources or access to special educators or schools for children with special needs. We were told off many times, people sometimes teachers telling us that Yuvraj will not be able to compete and learn in a mainstream school. But we did not want our child to feel ‘special’ or different in any manner,” shared Davinder. That’s when they met Prerna Khanna, special educator at Spring Dale School, who convinced them to enrol him and begin his journey to learn and to chase his dreams. “Yuvraj wants to become an administrative officer, he wants to prepare for IAS. And he loves cricket. We will support him till the end, now more than ever,” said Davinder.