Bhubaneswar: During the ongoing lockdown, online education portals might have been useful to many except for the visually impaired students, who are still struggling to make use of these platforms for studying at home.
The online portals neither have audio books nor any alternative study material like braille texts to help the visually challenged students.
Rohini, a Plus II second year student, told New Indian Express: “We could have utilised the time for learning but who will read out the texts to me? My parents are not educated and everyone else is maintaining social distancing. So, I can’t take help of neighbours or friends. I don’t have braille books or recordings.”
Usually, these students prepare for their exams with the help of audio recordings of class lectures.
State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) Sulochana Das stated that they are still mulling over the possible alternatives for the visually challenged students.
Suggesting a solution for this problem, activist Sruti Mohapatra said, “Now, that everyone is at home. Students of different departments should come forward to read out all the books available of Plus II, Plus III and PG. These should be recorded and converted into audio books and uploaded on the website of Higher Education Department.”