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http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article2483818.ece Bangalore University reached out to 150 visually impaired students from 25 of its affiliated colleges on Saturday by way of distributing free Braille textbooks and audio cassettes to them. The beneficiaries appreciated the move because all these years they had to depend on volunteers who would read out the textbooks for them. Some of them would travel long distances to take the help of non-governmental organisations which would format the reading material using Braille for them. Besides distributing Braille textbooks, Vice-Chancellor N. Prabhu Dev announced steps they would initiate to encourage more number of visually impaired students to pursue their studies in the university. The university will start a computer training and resource centre in December. Under the project, computer training will be imparted free of cost to the visually impaired students. JAWS Screen Reading software will be used for the purpose. Once trained, students will be able to work on the Internet and also use MS Office. The other initiatives include establishing a help desk for the visually impaired besides starting an electronic reading centre equipped with text-reading machines, screen magnification software and video magnifying units, and a Braille book production centre. . “In the next phase, we will have a career counselling and job placement unit as well as distance education centre for the visually impaired,” according to Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor N. Prabhu Dev. Mr. Prabhu Dev said that the soft copy of the Braille books were made (mostly) by the Canara Bank Relief and Welfare Society (each page of the master copy costs Rs. 25), while the hard copies were processed by the All India Confederation of the Blind, New Delhi. Each textbook has been printed in two or three volumes. Bangalore University funded the entire project. Students like Shilpa. S was both delighted and relieved. Ms. Shilpa, a second-year B.Com student who scored 74 per cent in her second semester, said Braille meant independence. “In my first semester, I was in tears as I got my study material a week before my exams. Thanks to my lecturer (Prasanna Udipikar, who is also the convenor of Bangalore University's Braille Resource Centre), who recorded the material, I managed to pass. ” Susheel Kumar, who is pursuing MA in Sociology, reiterated Ms. Shilpa's views. “Life is much easier for us now as we will find the Braille books in our library,” he said. --
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Krittika Vishwanath
Research Associate
IT for Change In special consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC www.ITforChange.net Skype id: krittika85 Tel:+91-80-2665 4134, 2653 6890. Fax:+91-80-4146 1055 Mobile: +91 9535321980 Read our Teacher's Communities of Learning project's blogs, lesson plans and discussions here: http://bangalore.karnatakaeducation.org.in/ |
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