Inclusive education in Tamil Nadu remains a pipe dream
The State government has been providing assistive devices for persons with disability (PwDs). However, activists urge the government to provide laptops to all PwDs, including the visually impaired, so that they can use the technology to learn better.
The trainees and persons with visual impairment of all ages being trained at the Karna Vidya Foundation Guindy
CHENNAI: Though empowering persons with visual impairment through technology should be the way forward, the State government is still miles away from adopting it for the disabled, especially those with visual impairments.
The State government has been providing assistive devices for persons with disability (PwDs). However, activists urge the government to provide laptops to all PwDs, including the visually impaired, so that they can use the technology to learn better.
Students in schools and colleges would find it helpful to use the device for writing final exams, board exams, semester exams and competitive exams conducted by the TN government. In 2020, GV Oviya was first in the State to write the Class 10 CBSE board exam using a laptop. She scored 89%. In 2024, EJ Angelina Lipika of Kanniyakumari, a person with visual impairment, was the only girl in that academic year to use a laptop to write Class 12 board exam in TN. Lipika secured 89%.
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These two were able to use devices to write finals only because they were trained with laptops much earlier; whereas even today, students with visual impairment studying under the State syllabus continue to use a scribe to write exams.
“Laptops and mobiles have become an empowering tool for PwDs, especially for persons with visual impairment. The State government should provide laptops to such students so that they can be trained to use them,” pointed out Raghuraman, assistant professor in the English department, Government Arts College, Nandanam.
However, the State government is yet to officially announce that students with complete visual impairment can pursue science and mathematics courses in higher secondary classes and in college. “The academia and even jobs sectors are still not conducive, or rather enabled, to equip the visually impaired with needed equipment. The State government should, at the very least, provide free laptops for those in need,” opined an activist.