BHUBANESWAR: In a big boost to visually challenged students, the Orissa Association for the Blind here has installed a computarised Braille production machine, promising supply of study materials with updated curriculum round the year.

 
The machine, donated by KAS Foundation, has the capacity to generate 250 pages an hour, much more than the existing manual Braille printing machine in Berhampur.

 
Inaugurating it, MP Pyari mohan Mohapatra called upon voluntary organisations to actively involve themselves in taking up welfare measures for the visually challenged.

 
Studies reveal that scarcity of Braille materials and dependence on old books in blind schools have posed a major challenge in ensuring quality education for students.

 
Figures state that out of the 5.35 lakh visually challenged youth in the State, roughly 5,000 have secured formal education. The total enrolment figure is also dismal, with just 3,000 studying in all the 28 blind schools put together.

 
“A couple of years back the Government’s move to purchase 28 computarised Braille printing machines had generated a lot of interest and encouragement among students. But they soon died down. The machines were never made operational for strange reasons,” said general secretary of the association Sanyas Behera, adding, “We made several representations but to no avail.”

 
To cap it, there is the perennial problem of shortage of teachers. Hopefully, this machine will help students get over their worries to some extent, he believed.

 
The association’s long standing wish for Braille ballot paper to exercise their franchise might also be realised with the installation of the machine.

 
The members submitted a memorandum to Mohapatra, demanding regularisation of payscales of teachers engaged in the only vocational training centre for adult blind boys and girls here.

 
At present, they are drawing a paltry Rs 650 to Rs 950 a month. The KAS Foundation awarded them medi claim policy coinciding with the launch of the Braille printing machine.