Parents disowned disabled child, she goes ahead to crack UPSC

Delhi: 28-year-old Ummul Kher who was disowned at an age of 14 by her parents as she wanted to study beyond class 8, cracked the UPSC examination and got an all India rank of 420.

As a child, she had a fragile bone disorder and has till now received 16 fractures and eight surgeries due to her disease. She came to Delhi from Rajasthan with her family, her father was a vendor who sold clothes, while the family would live in a slum near Hazrat Nizamuddin.

She took admission in Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya Institute for The Physically Handicapped, where she studies till Class 5. She later went to Amar Jyoti Charitable Trust where she studied till Class 8.

“It was a charitable organisation run by the government and I didn’t have to pay anything. Though getting one square meal was difficult, I was satisfied that I could at least study,” she said.

She got an all India rank of 420 and now hopes to get IAS under disability quota.

With her hard work and determination, she got admission in a college of Delhi University and later did her Masters from JNU. She cracked the civil services exam in her first attempt.

Life was difficult, but what came after that was “both difficult and painful” as Kher puts it.

“I wanted to study at Arwachin Bharti Bhawan Senior Secondary school as it had better infrastructure and I had got a scholarship,” she said. But her parents were against it. They said that if she studied any further they will sever ties with her. “I was abused. My intentions were questioned because I wanted to study. It was the worst time. They said you have now got more education than a girl should,” she said.