Shillong, July 30: Bertina Lyngdoh leaves her two-year-old son at home everyday to sell towels at Iewduh. When she is away from home, fending for the family, a friend babysits.
But what sets Bertina apart from other struggling women, many of them single mothers, at Iewduh was not the fact that she is visually challenged or she is trying hard to keep her child guarded from the extreme poverty that she is facing. What makes her story unique is that Bertina has a masters degree in English from North-eastern Hill University. In fact, she was the first visually challenged student from the state to attain such feat in 2016. However, the poor implementation of the 4% reservation for jobs to persons with disabilities has forced Bertina to go through such ignominy.
When Meghalaya Monitor met her at Iewduh, she said she had appeared for several interviews for a teaching job. “However, nothing happened. The NEHU professors who interviewed me knew me and my academic background. But I was not given the chance I deserve,” she said.
Bertina worked as a teacher in a school in Hojai, Assam. However, she had to come back to Meghalaya owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When asked about the jobs quota for persons with disabilities (PWDs), Bertina said the implementation of the policy was not in letter and spirit, leading to roadblocks for PWDs.
She was a regular contributor to local newspapers, both English and vernacular, and was often vocal about problems afflicting PWDs in the state.
