The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Laptops distributed to girls with visual impairment

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Laptops distributed to girls with visual impairment

Staff Reporter

PHOTO: S. SIVA SARAVANAN.

ENABLING TECHNOLOGY: Chancellor of Avinashilingam University, T.K. Shanmuganandam (second from right), handing over laptop to student with visual impairment in Coimbatore on Monday. Former legislator V.K. Lakshmanan (right), Vice Chancellor of Avinashilingam University, Saroja Prabhakaran (third from right) and Secretary General of International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment, M.N.G. Mani (second from left), are in the picture. —

COIMBATORE: “Technology has revolutionised disability services. It has made life easier for people with disabilities to a certain extent,” M.N.G. Mani, Secretary General of the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment and president of UDIS Forum, said here on Monday.

German foundation

The forum, along with Marga Schulze Foundation, Germany, gave away laptops to 12 girl students with visual impairment at Avinashilingam University. The laptops were given with an aim of making them technologically competent, Mr. Mani said.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s Global Monitoring Report 2008, the world had not progressed with regard to early intervention, women’s education, and adult literacy, he observed. However, Marga Schulze Foundation, an organisation in Germany, provided scholarships up to Rs.18,000 for girls with visual impairment in Africa and Asia to help them continue their higher education.

Scholarships

According to Mr. Mani, 61 girls in South India were availing themselves of the Marga Schulze scholarship through CBM, an international organisation working for people with visual impairment. “Next year, our aim is to make at least 100 students avail of the scholarship,” he added.

The girls who received the laptops were also receiving training in computer skills from Avinashilingam University. Training was essential for the candidates to help them use the laptop efficiently, Mr. Mani pointed out.

Assessment tests

The university in association with UDIS Forum organised assessment tests to gauge the skills of the girls. Only those who qualified in the assessment tests were given the laptops.

The others would be given intensive training before the laptops were handed over to them, he said. The laptops would be given every year to students who were eligible, Mr. Mani added.

Speaking about T.S.Avinashilingam Chettiar, Founder Chancellor of the university, he said the educationist and visionary had first introduced the concept of integrated education way back in 1980. He had included eight boys with disabilities in Ramakrishna Vidyalaya and six girls with disabilities in Saradalaya.

Birth centenary

The university was celebrating the late founder chancellor’s 106th birth centenary.

V.K. Lakshmanan, former legislator, said Avinashilingam worked for the education of women, especially from the downtrodden communities. He worked for the development of Tamil and stressed the importance of equal educational opportunities to women. The first student in the school he set up was a Dalit, Mr. Lakshmanan said.

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