Raouf Dar
Anantnag: Javaid Ahmad Tak hails from Bijbehara town of southern Kashmir’s Anantnag district is a handicapped person who provides free education to physically challenged persons from Anantnag district. He started his schooling from Cambridge Public School and after finishing the school he joined Government Degree College Anantnag for higher studies. In March 1997, some unknown gunman attacked on Javaid’s Cousin who was working as National Conference block president but he escaped unhurt and unfortunately Javaid was caught in the gunfire in which he received a bullet on his back soon after the incident he was shifted to SMHS, Srinagar for treatment and then he was recommended to visit New Delhi for advanced treatment but his luck didn’t favour him. The doctors at a prestigious hospital in New Delhi confirmed that, Javaid could never walk again on his own due to the damage caused in the backbone. The news shattered all his dreams and he felt very unfortunate in all this.
Also Read | Remo D’Souza Suffers Heart Attack; Identifying the Early Symptoms
Finally on one fine day, Javaid changed his mind and vowed to fight all odds of life with courage. On 2005, Javaid enrolled himself in the University of Kashmir fotr pursuing Masters in Social work, he also pursued B.Ed. & M.Ed. In 2008, he started his own school namely “Zaiba Appa School” especially for handicapped students which was the first such school in South Kashmir. In the year 2008 there were only thirty six students and within the passage of time more and more handicapped students joined the school with high hopes and spirits. In 2008-13, Child Right and You (CRY) helped this school for 4 years in imparting quality education for the handicapped Students of Anantnag district. At present there are more than hundreds of Students who are availing free education through Zaina Appa School, Bijbehara.
Also Read | SBM funds scam surfaces in block Achabal Anantnag, RTI reveals
Javaid Tak received number of awards both state and national level. In 2004, he received a national award at Delhi, in 2007 he received another award from state level and in 2016 he received another national level award under Limca books of records and finally in 2020 Javaid Tak was honoured with Bharat Ratan Award at Delhi for his excellence which was proud moment for Tak. In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also praised Tak on “Mann Ki Baat” for his excellence and bravery.\
Also Read | Govt makes online classes voluntary for teachers, students
Javaid Ahamd Tak while exclusively interacting with Kashmir Glacier said, “Before 14 Years when I was made physically handicapped I started tuition for children in my locality for free after lack of coaching centers for disabled children like me. So the idea came to my mind, I took this as a challenge and now by the praise of Allah today the same center is recognized as a School namely “Zaiba Appa institute of Inclusive education. Today in this school more than 100 Students are enrolled and quality education is imparted to them.
Also Read | Families of 3 Kashmiri men arrested by Delhi police, appeals their early release
He further said that, “I have registered number of Public interest litigations (PIL) for the betterment of handicapped person in which Reservation of Education for disabilities,3% Job Reservation quota which also implemented in Jammu and Kashmir. Our Disability Students also played International and National Games which was proud moment for me. We have to train our students for competitive level as they should go for nationally and internationally and gets success in every field. I have also requested authorities to adopt policy for disability persons and rights of persons with disability which was passed by Parliament of India in 2016 but now they failed to implement the same as officers denied this Act 2016 which is sheer injustice on our part.”(Kashmir Glacier)
