Help Afeefa Ally reach her fullest potential — Pushpa Jagnandan — Opinion

Help Afeefa Ally reach her fullest potential

September 24, 2026·2 min read

Published in

Kiskadee Watch ·Sep 24, 2026

Dear Editor,

For the first time in the history of our country, we have a student with a vision disability who has done extremely well in the CSEC Examinations. Ms. Afeefa Ally has managed to overcome all the difficulties that a regular student would have to go through, as well as all the challenges that come with being blind.^[1]

Her family willingly took on this challenge, and based on what they have said, sometimes it was too much to bear. Her story is one that carries so many lessons about overcoming obstacles and persevering to the end.

Our First Lady of Guyana has done a great job in recognizing that Ms. Afeefa’s story deserves recognition and a gift through her InclusAbility Initiative.^[2] This bright young lady received a laptop equipped with JAWS software and an iPhone 17 Pro Max. These gifts, I am sure, will be put to good use and will help Ms. Afeefa Ally reach her fullest potential.

I believe, however, that she should have been given a house and a piece of land to give her that extra step ahead in life. Her family should also be given some token of appreciation for not allowing her to be subdued by her disability. Because of their love, sacrifice, and determination, they have helped Guyana gain a valuable citizen.

Please don’t let this be her only gift.

While I am on this topic, I would also like to express an idea I have about the teachers of our national high achievers in CSEC and CAPE.

I would like to see the teachers of these students receive a monetary bonus for their hard work and dedication. This recognition should reach all the way back to the Nursery level. Any teacher or educator who played a significant role in teaching and shaping a student who eventually becomes a top 20 or top 1% national achiever should be considered for such recognition.

We often celebrate the students when the results are announced, and rightfully so. But behind every high-achieving student are teachers who spent years teaching, encouraging, correcting, challenging, and believing in them. The success of these students did not begin in the examination room. It began years earlier, in classrooms where teachers planted the seeds of knowledge and discipline.

Let us therefore remember the people who helped nurture these young minds along the way.

Let us celebrate our students, support their families, and recognize the educators who helped them reach the top.

Please don’t let this be her only gift.

Yours sincerely,
Pushpa Jagnandan

References

Against odds, visually impaired Afeefa turns determination into 7 Grade Ones at CSEC - Guyana Times — guyanatimesgy.com ↩
Afeefa Ally’s achievement is a monument to determination and dedication - Kiskadee Watch — kiskadeewatch.com ↩

Against odds, visually impaired Afeefa turns determination into 7 Grade Ones at CSEC - Guyana Times

guyanatimesgy.com · 2026-08-23

Against odds, visually impaired Afeefa turns determination into 7 Grade Ones at CSEC - Guyana Times ... # Against odds, visually impaired Afeefa turns determination into 7 Grade Ones at CSEC August 23, 2026 ... #### For most students, taking notes from the blackboard, studying a diagram or finding their way around a classroom are ordinary parts of school life. For 17-year-old Afeefa Amatullah Ally, who was born blind, those seemingly simple tasks presented obstacles that had to be overcome every day. ... #### The Skeldon Line Path Secondary School student has secured seven Grade Ones and three Grade Twos at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, completing a remarkable educational journey supported by a grandmother who attended classes with her, teachers who adapted their methods, and classmates who ensured she was included. At the centre of that journey was her grandmother, 59-year-old Nazra Appalsamy, who sat in the classroom, copied what teachers wrote on the blackboard and later went through the material with her granddaughter at home. Afeefa said being visually impaired meant finding ways around challenges that most of her classmates did not encounter. “I think being visually impaired provides some obstacles that people who are not visually impaired don’t have to work around. One of the main things for me is mobility in school and in new places that are not my home. But my teachers, my grandmother, and my friends helped with that. Also, another obstacle for me was getting the notes and understanding diagrams, especially,” she explained. The arrangement with her grandmother provided a solution to one of those challenges. “My grandmother was with me in the classroom, and she took the notes that the teacher wrote on the board, and when we got home, she revised me with me. That’s how I studied,” Afeefa related. Some things, however, could not simply be written down. Diagrams required a different approach. “The diagrams the teachers drew on the board – I can’t see that, so to explain it to me was a bit of a challenge. We also made the diagrams; we had to improvise and use textile materials so I could feel what they could see,” she recalled. By Form Four, Afeefa also had to decide how many subjects she could realistically undertake. She had considered Agricultural Science, Biology, and Food and Nutrition, but some of the practical requirements, coupled with the demands of her other subjects, influenced her decision. “I realised that I couldn’t study Bio and F&H, and focus as much as I could on all of the rest of the subjects. So, I tried to do what I know I could focus on, and I knew I could have done 10,” she explained. The decision paid off. ... #### Sitting CSEC For the examinations, Afeefa used a scribe, dictating her answers to a teacher assigned to assist her. Diagrams appearing on examination papers had to be explained to her. She said she was confident her answers were accurately recorded and that there were opportunities to review what had been written and make changes where necessary. Braille had been another possible avenue for Afeefa, but she said she was unable to develop the skill without specialised training. Technology is now providing her with another means of accessing information independently. “I did try to learn Braille, but I don’t think it worked too much, and I needed special training, so I never got to learn it. But most of the things that I need to know are now on my computer and phone, which I am getting training in how to use as a visually impaired person,” she said. ... to helping a visually impaired person ... Afeefa ... at primary school ... s educational journey ... a business centre at

Afeefa Ally’s achievement is a monument to determination and dedication - Kiskadee Watch

kiskadeewatch.com · 2026-08-24

Afeefa Ally’s achievement is a monument to determination and dedication - Kiskadee Watch # Afeefa Ally’s achievement is a monument to determination and dedication By Staff Editor Mon, August 24 2026, 11:44 AM GMT-4 Dear Editor, Hers is one of those great, big, feel good stories. The achievement of Ms. Afeefa Ally brings a glow. Of delight at her overachievement. Splendidly done, Ms. Ally. She now stands as a role model for others. Through can do energy. Becoming an inspiration for the challenged. A standard of going forth and never looking back, never giving up. Amid all the highfliers at this year’s CSEC rite of passage for Guyanese youths, Ms. Ally’s story is the one that will stay with me. One that I will use as a reference, when I hear excuses. When I see shrinking and complaining about all that is wrong with the world and unfair about life. For me, Ms. Afeefa Ally’s seven subjects represent more than a hard-earned milestone. It is a monument to determination and dedication. At the risk of gross exaggeration, it is several times the number of subjects that she earned. The stars aligned. The system in the home came together, worked. The support system in the school overperformed. From teachers and friends. From a 59-year-old grandmother to the daily journey to be back in a school again. A helping hand. A comforting presence. A familiar companion. Too often, the worse that Guyana has to offer is on display. Very quietly, this young lady toiled in the CSEC trenches and emerged smelling like a rare rose. Seven Grade Ones, three grade twos. Guyanese have every cause to be proud of her work ethic, her outstanding achievement against the odds. Despite the hand that fate has dealt her. I am proud of Afeefa Ally. Her achievement is Guyana’s achievement. I feel like it is mine. I would like to suggest that the Government of Guyana search for ways on how it could render a hand to her in this her now post CSEC years. I wish there were more stories like hers. Of the students from various indigenous communities, who rise above their environment of destitution and ever so often official depravity. Of the children from broken or abusive homes, who tarried on relentlessly, and kept the midnight oil burning. Of those hopefuls labouring in neighbourhoods where the noise of the music peals to the equivalent of an atomic explosion, and where alcohol and other substances of unrestrained merriment are the order of the day and the long hours of the night. I can visualize the candle going down to its last flicker, and a head resting exhaustedly and uneasily on a small table so laden with books. An age so suffused with hope. Education for poor Guyanese is more than about the future. It is about the richness of the oxygen that, at times, can be so difficult to encounter, then infinitely more demanding to inhale. I love these kinds of stories. The challenge for me is that they are so far apart. A lonely trickle here, a lost episode in some forlorn corner of Guyana. It’s why they are cherished more, and an Afeefa Ally stands as Guyana’s latest golden child. Except that she is one that is different. Numbers that are small in comparison. An institution that is not usually among those hailed and heralded, that owns and controls the spotlight year after year. From an area that is some distance from the busy, on the run, up in the clouds, metropolis. A separate word is due to her grandmother. It is some sacrifice, those days. In itself, one that I cannot remember coming across in my time here, or travels elsewhere. At least, she could read, so she was in a position to help. And help she did with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of patience, and something else. There has to be some love in there. A deep, abiding, love. We shall see this through together. Ms. Afeefa Ally and her grandma did. This is as grand as it gets. There are still these types of Guyanese that inspire hope deep inside. Sincerely, GHK Lall