The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Tiruchi News : Audio library for visually impaired students inaugurated

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 01, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Audio library for visually impaired students inaugurated

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUCHI, FEB. 28. The Collector, V. Pandian, inaugurated an audio library for visually impaired students at the District Disabled Rehabilitation Centre in the city today.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Pandian urged the students to take advantage of the audio tools, which come with the new facility, for their studies. In due course, extra cassettes would be added making the library more comprehensive, he said.

Setting up a similar system at blind schools in the city, including Puthur Blind School, would be considered and the necessary steps taken, he assured.

Emphasising the need for vocational training, the Collector said such programmes would go a long way in providing employment for people with visual disability.

He reiterated the need for self-confidence in the disabled to face the challenges ahead.

The library, set up at an outlay of Rs.46,000, would have audio tools for school and college students.

Now, the library houses 85 master audiocassettes containing the syllabus for students belonging to standards IX to XII.

According to the District Disabled Rehabilitation Officer, A. Joseph Xavier, the cassettes were procured from Helen Keller Rotary Talking Book Library in Madurai.

The library is also equipped with the facility to make copies of the master audiocassettes to enable students to learn on their own.

An attender with partial sight would be appointed at the library to help the visually impaired students, he said. Twenty-three visually impaired students from various colleges in the district and more than 130 schoolchildren would benefit from the audio library.

A Braille catalogue was also made available in the library for the students to identify the cassettes, Mr. Xavier pointed out.

The library would also be of use to students from the neighbouring districts of Karur, Thanjavur and Perambalur as there are no such facilities in those districts.

A survey is being conducted to understand the requirements of visually impaired students who are part of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Integrated Education Programme, a Manapparai-based non-governmental organisation, and the necessary tools would be added to the library, Mr. Xavier said.

The setting up of the audio library is the first such venture in the district on the lines of similar ones at Madurai, Dindigul and Pudukottai districts.

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