Re: Around India with a Canute: the Louis Braille Home

[E M Rogers]

% Journal of WCMT sponsored India trip ; 8th entry \\
Around India with a Canute: the Louis Braille Home
% Ed Rogers, Bristol Braille Technology CIC
% 20th of September, 2017 ; from Kanthari, Trivandrum

# Background

On Friday the 8th of September, in Vellore, I had arranged to meet Mrs
Navaneetham and her daughter Charlot from the Louis Braille Home in my
hotel.

# Their aim

According to their website they were set up to offer a home for poor
rural blind students who wished to attend university in Vellore.
Conditions are not necessarily easy for blind students coming to study
in Indian cities, so the idea was to reduce the barriers to learning.

However when I met Mrs Navaneetham they had no longer had the boarding
house and had changed to supporting students as they stayed in the usual
dorms and rented accommodation. This is a temporary affair I understand.

Regardless, they focus their energies on providing equipment and
materials to blind students.

# Braille use

Under 18 yoa Braille is widely used by the students she supports. But
once over 18 this falls off and is replaced with iPad use. So, by her
estimation: schools might still use Braille, but colleges don't.

A college student might take notes on a slate and stylus, but they won't
be given any materials in Braille. They can get *general books* from NAB
in Bombay or NIVH in Delhi, or from Christian missions, or from the
RNIB, but not course specific textbooks.

None of the above provide under-graduate level books, post-grad level or
PHD level.

# How the Louis Braille Home supports students

So Mrs Navaneetham manually embosses all the students she supports
copies of relevant sections from the books into Braille, using a
Perkins Brailler (!) Presumably to avoid chronic wrist cramp she will
only do critical sections and texts, such as what is necessary for a
competition.*

Currently she is supporting 15 students, mostly come from remote
villages.

Of people she previous supported 50-odd are in Govt posts, and another
50 are working in schools. Mainstream schools that is, rather than
specialist schools.


# Raising money

This is done through donors. She reported around 3--4k INR per donor.

# Mainstream vs specialist schooling

The Indian Govt has introduced something called SSA (Services Shiksha
Aloh) to support disabled students in mainstream schools.

Nonetheless she says that special schools still provide the superior
education for blind students. This is because in the latter all the
staff are trained, which cannot be assumed, even with the SSA scheme.

# Hand-outs and effect on education for blind students

1,000 INR per month from Govt to blind people (and, I assume, other
disabled people). Have to go to office to pick the cheque/cash however.

This creates a difficulty around signing, which makes parents of blind
children reluctant to send them to special schools that may be hours
away.

So the Govt created the SSA scheme, above, to allow children to go to
school in the same district they picked up the cheques.

That's how it was explained to me at least.

# Canute

Having demonstrated the Canute to Mrs Navaneetham her conclusion was
that it would be useful for PG and PHD students, but at 50k INR would
be too dear for UG students.

______________________________________________________________________ *
I didn't ask about the competitions. Can only assume are bigger part of
university culture over here.


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