Kollam: His inner eyes shed light on generations

Kollam: For this blind man, life is not just to make a compromise because of darkness, but it is all about leading generations towards the light. P.O. Sunny, the Principal with the West Kallada Government HSS has proved his mettle in the field of education by uplifting the downtrodden school to cent percent victory during the past consecutive years. The man behind this achievement, popular as Sunny Sir among the villagers, is totally blind.

P.O. Sunny of Plavilayil Veedu, Uppoodu, East Kallada, despite his blindness, travels alone on the bus and does the extra duty of helping his office staff – through his inner vision.

He lost his eyesight at 18, while he was studying B.Sc Maths in SN College Kollam. “At first I noticed that my vision diminished during night time. Gradually my vision faded during the day time too. Slowly, I turned blind completely. The doctors found that I had a rare disease that affected the cells of my retina,” Mr. Sunny recollects.

He was not willing to stop his education due to blindness. Taking a strong decision to fight the odds, he completed B.Ed from Mount Tabor college in Pathanapuram and prepared to attend PSC examinations. In 1995, he joined the Government school in Kulathupuzha as a Maths teacher.

Mr. Sunny learned to use computers using a special screen reading software. He is also an expert in Ubuntu using ‘Orca’ and ‘NonVisual desktop access’ in Windows was a challenge for me when I joined West Kallada school as the Principal in 2015. The school was very backward in terms of pass percentage. I coordinated with the teachers and PTA members to improve the education system in the school,” he adds. The school achieved cent percent results that year. More than 25 per cent of the students could also secure a total A+ in the public examinations.

Leelamma John, his wife, is the backbone, Mr. Sunny admits. The couple has two sons, Savo and Cyril. “These days, children lack courage to face challenges in life. They just indulge in luxury and are reluctant to accept the hard realities of life. These qualities should be sowed in them by their parents during childhood itself,” Mr. Sunny, who conquered his blindness, says.