Educating Yorkshire's Mushy reunited with teacher a decade after overcoming stammer

A teenager who shot to fame when his battle with a stammer was documented on a hit TV show has been reunited with the inspirational teacher who helped him face his fears.

Musharaf Asghar, known as Mushy, was 16 years-old when viewers of Educating Yorkshire watched him overcome his speech problems.

The series culminated with Mushy – encouraged by teacher Matthew Burton – spoke in front of classmates at Thornhill Community Academy in Dewsbury.

Mushy is now a public motivational speaker and has just graduated from a degree in broadcast journalism.

Joining Mr Burton on Good Morning Britain, he said: "I would honestly not be here without the support that I got in school.

"I can’t really sit here and say I achieved this without actually expressing how important it was having Mr Burton. Having the support I did - it's huge."

GMB presenters Susanna Reid and Ed Balls were brought to tears as Mushy was reunited with Mr Burton, who is now headteacher at Mushy's former school.

• Mushy on the impact Mr Burton had on him at school.

Mr Burton said how "blown away" and "proud" he was of what Mushy had achieved since appearing on Educating Yorkshire 10 years ago.

He said: "When you get into teaching you genuinely want to make a positive difference every single day, be that a large difference or a small difference, and I’m sitting here listening to Mushy talking and I’m incredibly proud of the young man that he’s become.

"His perseverance, determination, grit and resilience is everything we as teachers try to instil in young people going forward and he's showing that in spades."

Mushy added: "It was just about embracing who I truly was. I had this problem that made me think that I couldn’t really achieve anything at all and then Mr Burton just made me own it.

"You can honestly achieve whatever you want in life. All you need is one person in life who believes in you."

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