Officials inaugurate the computer centre at Antarjyoti Netraheen Balika Vidyalaya in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Jan. 25: Like Pinky Palkar, many of them want to reach out for the stars. Identical to Deepika Padukone’s character in Lafangey Parindey, for most of them, loss of vision has plunged their world into darkness.

For instance, Anjali, who loves English and wants to become a teacher. Her friend Shanti Kumari is learning Kathak and aspires to be a well-known dancer.

But for both these students of Antarjyoti Netraheen Balika Vidyalaya, a window of opportunity opened today. Amway Opportunity Foundation (AOF), the corporate social responsibility wing of Amway India Enterprises Private Limited, unveiled a computer centre at the school.

A small computer centre was started at the school in 2007 with only one computer. Four computers were added today.

Ajay Kumar, advisor to the state government planning board, and Ajitabh Sinha, superintendent of police, Special Branch, Patna, inaugurated the centre, AOF-Anterjyoti Centre for Excellence in Information Technology.

The total number of AOF centres in the country now is 14.

S. Vishwanath, the executive secretary of AOF and the head of communications of Amway India, said: “The objective of this centre is to help visually-impaired students to learn about technology and computers.”

“I have seen people without vision working as computer analysts in IBM. They can do everything with just a little help,” said Vishwanath.

He added that AOF had set up four centres in the past year.

Anjali, who lost her vision in 2000, said she was eager to learn computers.

“It is almost a necessity these days. One needs to have a thorough knowledge of computers to do anything,” said Anjali.

Neha Srivastava, another student, said she wanted to be a teacher for the visually-impaired.

“Computers are very helpful. They have become essential these days,” said Neha.

She added that the latest methods of teaching could benefit a lot from computer, especially for the visually-impaired or the differently-abled students.

Her friend, Nidhi Kumari, also wants to be in academics.

“It is easier to read books written in Braille on the computer,” said Nidhi, who has been blind since birth.

She added: “It is also easier to teach visually-impaired students with the help of computers.”

Teachers of the school were also very happy with the new computers.

“Our students are as bright as those belonging to any other school. Our school has a very good academic record. Though all our students have to face such serious challenges, they always emerge at the top. It is our duty to provide them the best facilities to help them progress in life,” said a teacher.

Ranjan Akhouri, the chairman of Bihar Netraheen Parishad and the managing trustee of the school, Alok Deep, Amway Bihar-Jharkhand area manager, Sarbani Bhattacharya and Sudhir Sinha, volunteers of Amway were also present at the function.