INTRODUCTION :
The overwhelming majority of the
blind millions of India have no access to literacy, education or skills
training in formal or informal institutions or organisations. This should
trouble the conscience of every thinking Indian.
None of the existing conventional solutions have been able to reach them, because these solutions are severely constrained by their organization, methods and costs. We need a completely new and revolutionary method that is free from such constraints.
CONCEPTUAL APPROACH :
The STBS Project
proposed here rests on such an approach. It is revolutionary in that it
rests largely on the efforts of the blind to help themselves., with a methodology
that is astonishingly simple, inexpensive and capable of extensive
and rapid implementation and replication. It is unique in that it rests
on the use of a speech enabled cost-free IT solution specially
designed to enable the blind to use computers in their mother tongue with
little effort.
METHODOLOGY :
1. The basic steps are :
(a) to select a blind person who is
literate, and possibly, though not necessarily, educated;
(b) give him / her a Personal Computer
and train him / her in using it the mother tongue;
(c) require him/her to use the PC to
:
(i) run
a single teacher blind school at his house or any available common location,
to train other blind persons
in the local area on a low or no-fee basis; and
(ii)
undertake job works like data entry, typing letters, petitions, reports,
or other documents etc to
bring him a small income to support himself/herself.
It
will be helpful if he/she has the help or association of a spouse, other
relation or friend, even from the stage of initial training. In
due course, as his/her skills expand, and with
such additional help, he/she can handle all the above functions efficiently,
and also take on many other social services and functions, like promoting
literacy, dissemination of information, running telephone or email services
etc.
2. Set up a common Training-cum-Support Centre which will :
(a) provide the equipment and initial
training for each teacher (including a helper), free of cost;
(b) establish a network of STB Schools
to extend the activity to reach as many villages as possible; and
(c) coordinate their activities and
provide equipment maintenance and training support, and
infrastructural help.
EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS :
HARDWARE
: The
minimal requirement will be as follows :
CPU : Intel 486 of 33 MHz speed
; RAM : 16 MB ;
MONITOR : 14 " Monochrome ;
KEYBOARD : Standard AT - 101
SOUND CARD and SPEAKERS ;
80-Column Dot Matrix Printer; UPS : 500 VA
NOTE : The
above configurations may be considered by the fastidious to be obsolete
but are quite clearly
adequate for the intended purposes. Such machines or even more powerful
ones should be extensively
available at no cost or at throw away prices from institutions and organisations
which are constantly upgrading their existing computer systems.
S0FTWARE :
(a) Operating System : Windows 95
(b) Application Software : The Multi-lingual
Software Package from the IIT Chennai which
has the following features
which are specially valuable for blind users :
(i) Common English Keyboard adapted for use on a phonetic basis for input
in any Indian language as also English;
(ii) It is speech enabled and speeks each letter, word or sentence in the
entry; language, as and
when entered, enabling
use by the blind in their mother tongue;
(iii) It is extremely simple to use and persons
who are blind and have no
education or knowledge of computers can be trained in its use through our
standard 4 day programme;
(iv) it produces scrren output and ink print output for use by sighted
persons and embossed braille
output for the use of the
blind, all in the user's mother tongue;
(v) utilities are provided to
enable use for email and creation of Internet
presentations in Indian
languages; and
(vi) this is a product of high technical and linguistic sophistication
and is the only product
of its kind in India or
any where else. It is specifically designed by
the IIT Chennai as a national solution for the needs
of the country and is therefore
offered free of cost.
IMPLEMENTATION :
Any
Governmental or Non-Governmental Institution or Industrial or Commercial
Organisation or Individual can sponsor or support a single school or a
network of schools of this type This
would be an ideal project for sponsorship by large rural Eye Hospitals,
as a social service extension to their medical services. Patients
who have benefited by their services would make a ready source of support
for the establishment of schools of this type in their villages.
Vidya Vrikshah would be glad to provide all advice and support, including initial training of Trainers along with copies of the Multilingual Software Package , free of cost.