Blind Plus II Students To Get Braille Text Books From Next Yr

Berhampur: Divyang students of the State who suffer from retarded eyesight will now be able to get specially designed Braille text books from next academic session.

In a bid to make college education easier for blind students, Odisha government on Thursday rolled out Braille printing facility for Plus 2 text books at the State's only Braille press in Berhampur.

State Minister of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ashok Panda inaugurated the computerised Braille press yesterday. The machine which has been reportedly procured with Rs 1.18 crore has a capacity to print 16 characters in a second.

"Plus 2 students will now greatly benefit from this new printing machine as they can get their text books in Braille from next year," said Panda.

Till now, text books with Braille system were available for classes 1 to 10 only. Blind students in the college were forced to read by hearing lessons from tape recorder.

“This is the only Braille press in Odisha and books from primary to class 10 were printed here. With the rollout of the new facility, we hope that such students will be benefitted a lot," said the Manager of Braille press, Prakash Rath.

Nilamadhav Jena, a blind student studying Plus 2 Arts said, “It was very hard for us to understand and remember all the texts through tape recorder. If we get Braille books to read, it will surely help us get good marks in the exam.”