Everyone knows about Muhammad Ali aka Cassius Clay. Young Cassius once without knowing stepped into a restaurant catering only to white people. He wanted to purchase a burger and a soda and everyone inside mocked him calling him a nigger. These racists never thought in an instance, in years to come this ‘coloured person’ that they ridiculed would become the world heavyweight champion.
Brian Kingston, the visually impaired Sri Lankan child of 17 who obtained nine ‘A’s in his GCE Ordinary level exam had a somewhat similar story to relate when the Daily News T&C interviewed him.
“Once inside a shop, someone took my hand and dropped some coins on my palm thinking I am a panhandler. I was dejected and while travelling home, my mother consoled me. Yes, I am a visually handicapped person and I do not enjoy it. But we are not the people who want to be on the receiving end waiting for someone to have sympathy for us. There is a community of school-going children in the country like me. If the authorities could design a curricular that facilitates us to learn what we desire in our higher studies, it will be beneficial for us and the whole society. Sympathy makers could contribute financially towards such noble cause and assist the Government in making it a reality,” said Brian.
This youngster from Mattakkuliya is already in the limelight after participating in Sirasa Lakshapathy, the popular quiz program conducted by Sirasa TV. The viewers were astonished to see the wealth of knowledge this teenager has gathered on diverse subjects like history, science, aesthetics, literature and more.
Brian’s mother Priya Bastian toils to groom her two sons, Brian and his elder brother, Ramston as sensible citizens. Her husband works abroad to muscle her in her endeavour to elevate the family to a better position. While Brian studies at Ratmalana College for the Blind, his elder brother schools at Wesley College, Colombo.
“We are a Tamil Catholic family. Brian attended St Mary’s Church in Mattakkuliya and was admitted to Ratmalana blind school at the age of six. He learned Braille and got a double promotion. He studied in Sinhala medium up to the fifth grade but did the scholarship exam in Tamil to obtain 155 marks. Then he obtained nine ‘A’s in GCE O/L,” said Priya.
She said Brian is never lazy and he did extracurricular activities apart from schoolwork. He has excelled in quiz programs in school and was a good sportsman. He became the senior school overall champion in sports in 2019 and also became the All-Island Champion in Shot Put in 2020. Brian gets emotional whenever he talks of his beloved mother.
He said, “My mother used to hold my hand and run in the school playground to get me accustomed to the environs. The dry smell of the grass and the cool breeze made me like it. She learned Braille to teach me at home. I first saw my mother through her voice which is full of warmth. Her love made me excel in many fields and overcome many challenges in life. A mother’s love can make a boy conquer the world. She is my guardian angel”. Brian has much gratitude towards his elder brother, who constantly try to fulfil his cuddly little brother’s needs. Their grandmother does heaps of unseen work for the betterment of the family.
Since Brian will be in the Advanced level class soon at Ananda College, Colombo, we enquired about his future ambitions.
“I yearned to become a scientist which was my passion. Nevertheless because of the limitations in the school curriculum for visually impaired students to learn diverse subjects, now I am compelled to follow the Arts stream and become a lawyer,” he said.
“There was a thought, a visually handicapped child could not obtain an ‘A’ for a subject. But I obtained nine ‘A’s. We should be given more choices to pursue with our higher studies. We are only left with the art stream in our Advanced level studies. Hence I will trail in that direction and become a lawyer which will be the ultimatum for me. However, I like the subject of Science most. If the mechanism for teaching visually impaired students can be revisited and refined with a separate syllabus with modern methods, students like us could achieve more,” he proposed.
Brian added, there are visually impaired NASA scientists and Sri Lankan children too have the potential to be groomed as them. He opined more practical methods of teaching should be incorporated into the curriculum to enhance the quality of school education in Sri Lanka.
Brian also made a humble request from companies that engage in CSR to help his good friend Tharindu to obtain a scholarship to enter a Colombo school. Tharindu who came to Colombo from Anuradhapura has been a hostel student of the Ratmalana blind school.
Brian said the blind school as of today educate children up to the GCE Ordinary Level and is having plans to enhance its periphery to teach Advanced Level students too which would take time. He paid his gratitude to the Media Minister Dullas Alahapperuma for visiting the Blind School in Ratmalana to offer support.
Brian is a passionate reader. He gathers knowledge by reading books on varied subjects. He reads novels (via CDs) to enhance his language skills and his knowledge of Sri Lankan history and heritage is enormous. He loves literature and loves to read W A Silva’s fantasy-oriented novels and also admires modern writers such as Nobert Ayagamage (Kaala Nadee Galabasi) and Mahinda Prasad Masimbula (Senkottan). He said the children should be groomed to be independent to be successful in life. “People should be respected irrespective of their caste, creed or race. This was the Lord Buddha’s teaching. We all must abide by that norm irrespective of our beliefs as it is the ultimate truth. Love and compassion for each other and positive attitudes would make our country prosper,” he concluded.
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