Blind students set sights on results with City help
The bylanes of RP road are abuzz with activity of a different kind. Walk into any of these bylanes and you’re bound to spot scores of IT employees gearing up to write an exam. If you’re wondering why a well dressed techie is going back to school then here’s news. Sai Junior College, a school for the blind is conducting pre final exams for their students. And these IT professionals and students other colleges across the City have volunteered as scribes for the blind during their exams.
Scribes, in this case, are people who help the blind students write their exams. Fortunately, getting volunteers in the City was no Herculean task, since several students and IT employees showed up offering to help.
“We have been doing this since three years now and this year it was a good turn out. We passed on the message to a few of our friends and the word spread like wildfire. Within one day we had more than 2000 volunteers. We need around 120 volunteers and this time we had excess people offering to help. We were forced to send a few of them back home,” said Kedari R, a volunteer with the Rotaract Club who has been arranging for scribes for the last three years.
So enthusiastic are the volunteers that some of the Engineering college students bunked classes and were present at the venue well before time. IT employees too took half day off to be able to act as scribes for the blind students.
“They need friends and people who motivate them. Immediately after meeting, a strong bond is formed. Now they call us asking if we will be coming again. Once they make friends they always keep in touch,” says Nivedita, a volunteer.
Although the blind students use Braille to study, there is a huge paucity of teachers in the State who can understand it to be able to correct their exam papers. Which is why the students require scribes for their exams. “It’s a long and tedious system. Normally what takes us three hours to correct takes six hours in Braille,” says Girija Menon, a teacher.
The board exams are scheduled in March and scribes have been assigned to each student for different exams. “I don’t go for my exam on time but for their exam I ensure I reach there ahead of time. Helping them write the exam gives me a strong sense of gratitude and I realise how fortunate we are,” said Latha A, an employee with Birla CMC.
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