: Visually impaired students in Andhra Pradesh are unable to make use of an opportunity to educate themselves with financial aid provided by an offshore NRI donor organisation. The reasons attributed are lack of awareness coupled with the mindset of their parents.
Help the Blind Foundation, a Hong Kong-based service organisation floated by a group of NRIs, offers scholarships to visually challenged students in India to make them worthy of jobs in modern society.
The organisation funds university education of 365 students drawn from 53 different colleges across the country.
Of them, majority are from Tamil Nadu which has secured scholarships for 125 of students from Loyola, Presidency, Queen Marys and Srimad Andavan Arts and Science colleges.
Next in line is Delhi where 88 students from six educational institutions—Kirorimal, Miranda House, Ramjas, Satyawati, Daulatram and I.P Colleges — are reaping benefits of this scheme.
In Maharashtra, 28 students from Fergusson, KRT Arts and Science College and Nowrojee Wadia College are utilising the opportunity.
In Karnataka, 17 students from JSS Polytechnic College for Differently-abled in Karnataka and 100 others from 38 colleges rely on this programme for their college fee. But in Andhra Pradesh, only seven students, all from Andhra Loyola College (ALC), Vijayawada, make use of it.
“The Foundation is keen on covering more number of students for a uniform distribution of the financial aid across the country. But we have no takers and that’s probably because of lack of awareness about the programme and also the mindset of the parents of visually challenged students,” says G. Sahaya Baskaran, Associate Professor in Physics and coordinator of HEPSN (Higher Education for Persons with Special Needs), a University Grant Commission (UGC) programme meant to create conducive environment in higher educational institutions and to enrich higher education learning experiences for the differently-abled persons.
According to official data, Krishna district has a population of 1,35,000 disabled people. Of them, nearly 16,000 are blind but it is difficult to specify how many of them are educable.
“Poverty, low awareness level and social taboo being primary reasons, we also don’t have many NGOs working for this section unlike in Chennai,” says Prof. Baskaran.
MoUs signed
ALC’s HEPSN wing has signed MoUs with the UGC and Help the Blind Foundation.
Under this programme, visually impaired who join the college and opt for hostels attached with the college get a financial aid of Rs. 25,000 per annum while day scholars get Rs. 5,000.
Contact number
Enquiries can be made for details of the scholarship programme by calling Prof. Baskaran on 9490658088.
No takers for scholarships offered by a Hong Kong-based group
floated by NRIs
