Vadodara, Gujarat: Her vision was steadily waning but her sights were firmly set on one goal: studying in one of the world’s premier management institutes, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad.
Prachi Sukhwani, 21, a bachelor of business administration student at Maharaja Sayajirao University’s faculty of commerce, has achieved that goal by getting into IIM-A.Suffering from macular dystrophy , also known as retinal degradation, since she was in Class III, Prachi has lost over 80% of vision over the years.There is no treatment for this rare form of genetic disorder, but that was hardly a deterrent in fulfilling Prachi’s dre am.
“She got calls from all the top three IIMs of the country, IIM-Ahmedabad, IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Kolkata, and appeared for the interviews,“ her father Suresh said. My short-term goal is to join a company , preferably a multinational.Once I get some experience, I will have my own start-up. But my long-term goal is to open an NGO for the blind,“ Prachi, who had scored 98.55 percentile in CAT 2016 in which she had appeared as a person with a disability , told TOI.
Father Suresh Sukhwani, who runs a garment business, said for 15 years she was regularly taken to Chennai where doctors advised her to wear special glasses for reading.
While Prachi’s mother Kanchan is a homemaker and doubles up as an LIC agent, her elder sister Nishita, who too had completed her BBA from MSU, is pursuing MBA from a Mumbai-based private college. On Monday , while Prachi was busy appearing for the last semester exam at BBA, congratulatory notes flooded on social media groups of MSU.
“I have been associated with the BBA programme since its inception in 1993. But this is one of the proudest moments. Prachi deserves special applause for her success. Her success is an inspiration for everybody ,“ said Prof Sharad Bansal, dean of the faculty of commerce.
(source: Economic Times)