It was more than a dream come true for 10-year-old visually impaired school student T. Sriramanujam to don the role of a news presenter on television. At 5 p.m. on Friday, the boy became probably the first visually impaired newsreader in a satellite television channel based at Coimbatore. “I was trembling with fear when I read the first news. But, on reading it, I gained confidence and read the remaining 30 news items in my half-hour slot covering topics such as national, sports and entertainment news,” he said. The news team of the channel extended support to the boy to help him learn the art of reading news over the last three days, before the news was finally recorded on Friday. The boy from Paraipatti village in Palani is the son of a couple who are farmers. He started listening to news from the time he turned nine-years-old. The boy, who is now staying in a hostel at Thondamuthur, studies with 22 students in the government school for visually impaired students. Overjoyed by the opportunity he said he would read news for the channel at 5 p.m. on Fridays. G.K.S. Selvakumar, Chairman of Lotus News Channel, said “We have seen many families where visually impaired children are not sent to school. Those boys and girls, denied education, were left to depend on others,” he said and expressed confidence that such parents would be motivated by Sriramanujam.
