http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/1000-visuallyimpaired-students-to-get-free-laptops/article6070473.ece
In a move to encourage visually-impaired students to opt for higher
education, the State government has decided to distribute laptops free
of cost to such students of government, aided and unaided educational
institutions in the State.
In the first phase, laptops equipped with screen readers would be given
to 1,000 students of Class 10 and above, including arts, science,
engineering and other courses. Each laptop costs Rs. 40,000 and they are
equipped with screen readers with a voice that synthesises keyboard
commands into human-sounding speech. The most popular screen-access
programme is JAWS for Windows, officials said. “JAWS provides key
command equivalents to mouse functions to enable students to navigate
their laptops, read documents and browse the internet.
The scheme would cost the government Rs. 4 crore. An order on
distribution of laptops would be issued soon, officials in the
Department for the Empowerment of Differently Abled and Senior Citizens
told /The Hindu /on Saturday. Family income is not a criterion for
selection of students. A beneficiaries’ list would be prepared based on
the names of students recommended by principals of the colleges and
headmasters of schools. Deputy Directors of the department in each
district will scrutinise the names and submit them to the Director of
the department, said officials.
A total 13.24 lakh persons are living with seven types of disabilities
in Karnataka as per the 2011Census. Only those who have more than 40 per
cent disability are eligible for scholarships and other subsidy
benefits. There are 2.64 lakh visually-impaired persons in Karnataka.
About 2,000 visually-impaired students are studying in various
government schools, colleges, aided colleges and private colleges,
officials said. The government has been running special schools for the
visually impaired in Gulbarga, Mysore, Davangere and Hubli in which
there are 151 students.
*How they fared*
A total of 225 visually-impaired students scored more than 60 per cent
in the 2014 SSLC examinations. Of them, 31 passed with distinction, and
seven scored between 90 and 95 per cent. A total of 708 SSLC students
with various disabilities scored more than 60 per cent in 2014.
--
Gurumurthy Kasinathan
Director, IT for Change
/In Special Consultative Status with the United Nations ECOSOC/
www.ITforChange.Net <http://www.itforchange.net/> | Cell:91 9845437730 |
Tel:91 80 26654134, 26536890
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Subject_Teacher_Forum
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