Students with vision disabilities are unhappy in India as little effort has been made to provide Braille slate, books and assistive devices to support their education.
Though the State allocates funds in the budget, it rarely reaches the beneficiaries. “When we enquired, we were told that a few staff are still in the press and their salaries are being paid,” an activist said.
“The Braille Press has been defunct for the past decade” said C. Govindakrishnan, member of the State advisory board in the Department for Persons with disabilities.
The fact is that the government schools do not send students the list as the enrollment is insufficient, Mr. Govindakrishnan said. “Parents will not willingly send their students to such schools. It is for the teachers to reach out to the parents and ensure enrolment. Teachers must go village to village to get students to come to school,” he added.
The State government also has an incentive scheme to prevent dropouts from Classes 10 to 12. The government schools send the list of students to the Tamil Nadu Power Finance Corporation, which raises a bond for students. The scheme is non-functional in blind schools; however, he lamented.
The government allocates funds, but it rarely reaches the students, he said.
However, teachers at schools for blind people blamed the non-appointment of a Chief Education Officer for overseeing the schools’ functioning.
