The Hindu : Kerala News : ‘Insight’ to light up lives of the visually challenged

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Saturday, Sep 08, 2007
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‘Insight’ to light up lives of the visually challenged

M.P. Praveen

KOCHI: The Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM) is all set to bring light in the lives of the visually challenged in the district. ‘Insight,’ a project for imparting job-oriented computer education to the visually challenged, will be launched in Ernakulam district this month.

The project to be rolled out through the Akshaya centres will have the technological assistance of SPACE, an organisation involved in the promotion of free software. This is in keeping with the policy of the State Government to promote open source software.

Under the project, one computer each in select Akshaya centres will be readied for the visually challenged. The computer will be loaded with technological tools like speech-enabled software for the benefit of the targeted group.

Anyone with good aptitude, irrespective of age, can attend the 140-hour programme (two hours each day for two-and-a-half months). This includes 30 hours of Internet training.

The course fee is Rs.1,400. “A project report will be submitted to the Ernakulam district panchayat shortly seeking financial assistance. If needed, alternative source of funding will be arranged,” M.S. Vinod, assistant mission coordinator, IT Mission, said.

The KSITM will monitor the training and submit reports to the district panchayat. Certificates will be issued jointly by the KSITM, SPACE and the district panchayat.

Master trainers

The Insight nodal centre in Thiruvananthapuram has created a pool of 25 visually challenged super master trainers to train district-level trainers.

So far, 40 district-level master trainers have been trained (five each from eight districts, where Akshaya project is in full swing), Mr. Vinod said.

“The district-level master trainers will train the entrepreneurs of the Akshaya centres where the project will be implemented, V.R. Ajithkumar, Director, Akshaya Project said.

The project has already been launched in Malappuram, Kannur, Kollam and Thrissur districts. Besides Ernakulam, the project will soon be rolled out in Kasaragod, Kozhikode and Pathanamthitta districts.

“Our aim is to implement the project in all the 3,180 Akshaya centres in due course,” Mr. Ajithkumar said. At present, 1,600 Akshaya centres are operational, while another 1,580 centres, spread over six districts, where the Akshaya project is waiting to be launched, will be opened shortly.

Insight was launched with an initial corpus of Rs.10 lakh in 2006-07. This was increased to Rs.25 lakh this fiscal considering the response the project evoked, Mr. Vinod said.

Apart from providing training, the nodal centre was involved in the development of tools, applications and solutions for the visually challenged, content packages including audio books and providing hardware facility to entrepreneurs.

“We will provide training to physically and mentally challenged persons in the next phase of Insight,” Mr. Ajithkumar said.

Meanwhile, the KSITM has approached the IT Department for official recognition of courses offered under Insight. Besides, assistance has been sought from the Social Welfare Department for distributing MP3 players among the participants of Insight.

“Many corporate firms in Technopark and banks have come forward to donate for supplying computers to all master trainers. At least 50 systems will be distributed this way,” Mr. Vinod said.

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