Ma Su Pone Chit says it’s tiring to write with her toes for extended periods.

MA Su Pone Chit is 16 and her outstanding achievement in the matriculation exams is an inspiration for the nation’s disabled students.

She achieved distinctions in Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Biology and her cumulative mark is high enough to study medicine. But it is an ambition she is unable to realise because of her disabilities.

“I don’t know what to do although my mark of 450 is high enough to gain entry to a medical college,” said Ma Su Pone Chit, who was born with one normal leg.

Her proud father, U Ohn Kyaw, said she had wanted to be a doctor since she was young.

“But I cannot choose what is the best career for her; all I want is for her to be happy and successful,” he said.

The director general of the Department of No (1) Basic Education under the Ministry of Education, U Tin Nyo, said the department regarded Ma Su Pone Chit as an outstanding example of what could be achieved by disabled students and would assist in helping her to choose a course on which to build a career.

“We might choose for her to study languages or international relations,” U Tin Nyo said.

“The Ministry of Education will choose the most suitable course for her in December, when universities reopen for the next academic year,” he said.
When Ma Su Pone Chit was born at Nyaung Don in Ayeyarwaddy Division, U Ohn Kyaw said he did not tell his wife about her disabilities for 15 days out of concern about how she would react.

U Ohn Kyaw and his wife later decided to provide their daughter with the same opportunities as normal children. They encouraged her to be confident and taught her how to write with her toes.

“We encountered many difficulties teaching her to write but we are devoted to her and always provided encouragement,” U Ohn Kyaw said.

The care and devotion of her parents and teachers helped Ma Su Pone Chit to flourish as a student. She was placed first, second or third at her class every year.

The Ministry of Education honoured her achievements in the grade eight examinations in 2001 when the Myanmar Womens’ Affairs Federation also awarded her a prize for mental prowess.

In 2004, the ministry named her the ‘Student of the Decade.’

The ministry allows disabled students an extra 30 minutes in the three-hour matriculation exams but Ma Su Pone Chit was not interested in receiving special treatment.

“It was important to me to compete in the examinations under the same conditions as other students; I didn’t want any special treatment,” she said.
She has to write in an uncomfortable position, which is tiring over extended periods.

Ma Su Pone Chit admitted that she sometimes feels discouraged.

“But when that happens I find inspiration and encouragement from reading the poem, The Peak, by the famous poet Ngwe Ta Yi,” she said.

The poem, on the grade seven syllabus, encourages readers never to despair.