The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Help sought to teach visually challenged children

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Help sought to teach visually challenged children

R. Sujatha

NAB coordinates activities of nine centres and 17 state branches

CHENNAI: Educating visually challenged children will help them lead an independent life, but they lack support from people who can act as scribes to teach or help the child in reading or writing.

"We would like people to spend time during the weekend," says Meyyammai Murugappan, president of the National Association for the Blind (NAB). Situated at Madhavaram, the association coordinates activities of nine centres and 17 state branches across the country. From 1961, it has been working for screening and early identification of blindness in children, and also for their education and vocational training.

The NGO also arranges for treatment of eye problems and cataract surgery. In 1995, the organisation initiated an integrated education programme for disabled children. The NGO is currently working with about 60 blind children in a cluster of villages in Tiruvallur district.

Sixteen trained teachers travel to villages and teach students during lunch hour and after school hours.

The project includes recording school lessons that students can use anytime. This is where more scribes can help by allotting time, at least during weekends, she says.

Mrs. Murugappan has another issue to talk about: Though it is difficult to persuade people to send their visually-challenged children to school, resistance is higher when it comes to girl children. "We have to beg them [to send the child to school] especially if it is a girl. `What will she do with an education?' they ask," she says.

Parents consider it an onerous task to send girls to school. "For them [parents] it is a responsibility to take up."

Under the computer-training programme, which began in 2001, 12 students are being trained in word processing, MS office, data entry and Internet operation with voice synthesizer facility.

NAB can be contacted at: 25376856/25586598.

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