SSEPD Dept. joins hands with IIT-B for quality education to visually impaired

Bhubaneswar: The Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) Department of Odisha government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar on Monday to develop comprehensive technological solutions for quality education of visually-impaired students of the state.

As per the agreement, Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy (SRIC) of IIT-Bhubaneswar will work in collaboration with Exclusive Tinker Lab on modern learning via Coding, Micro bit, 3D Painting, Games and Animation, Mobile Apps, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.

“With the use of suitable screen reading software and a few software applications on a computer, a visually impaired student can effectively assess digital books and online content and can also write in his preferred language,” informed SSEPD Minister Ashok Chandra Panda.

The project will focus on provision of tabs, smartphones, digital libraries and audiobooks. MSW scholars and NSS volunteers will be engaged for support in online classes, career guidance, soft skills, sheltered workshops and personality development.

For visually impaired high school and higher secondary school students, there will be provision of Kibo Device.

Principal Secretary SSEPD Bishnupada Sethi said that IIT, Bhubaneswar will provide technical guidance and support for identification of the right assistive devices as per the identified needs of the visually impaired students.

“Training of students, career counselling, setting up of recording lab and accessible art centre will be a part of the project,” informed Sethi.