Summary
The felicitation ceremony was organised by the Foundation for Differently Abled Persons, Dilip Loyalka, a founder-member of the foundation, himself cannot see
More than 180 students, who have not allowed visual impairment and stigma to come in their way of clearing Madhyamik with elan, were rewarded with laptops, smartphones and digital recorders at a felicitation programme on Sunday.
One of them was Arnab Dutta, who got 95.7 per cent in Madhyamik. Dutta, who is from Bishnupur in Bankura, loves the sciences.
“My dream is to become a scientist and work with the Defence Research and Development Organisation,” Dutta, who got a laptop on Sunday, told The Telegraph.
He scored 100 out of 100 in physical science, 97 in Bengali, 95 in English and90 in math.
Born with a congenital cataract, Dutta has partially lost his vision. “But his determination is intact. He used to be called names by fellow students. But he shut them up by his performance,” said his father.
The felicitation ceremony was organised by the Foundation for Differently Abled Persons. Dilip Loyalka, a founder-member of the foundation, is himself visually impaired.
“I hope the digital tools help these students in pursuing higher education,” said Loyalka, a chartered accountant and tax consultant by profession.
The foundation has been organising the reward programme for several years now.
The laptops, smartphones and digital recorders were loaded with recorded lessons on the Higher Secondary syllabus for ease of learning.
The laptops and smartphones were also loaded with software that would read aloud any text to the students.
“If they log on to any website, the software will read the text aloud,” said an organiser.
At the Birla Academy on Sunday, the top 14 performers got laptops. The next 15 got Daisy players (text to speech converters), 25 got smartphones and 131 got digital recorders.
“This initiative will immensely help the visually impaired students,” said L.K.S. Chauhan, executive director, Indian Oil Corporation, who was the chief guest.
Most of the students were from districts. “The majority of them are from marginalised families. They have been able to continue with studies because of their determination,” said an organiser.
Anjali Mahato, an awardee from West Midnapore, lost her father in 2015. She lives in Detkundri village, around 30 minutes from Midnapore town, withher mother and younger sister.
Mahato scored 669 out of 700, securing 100 in math and geography.
“I want to be a teacher,” said Mahato, who wanted to get used to the laptop fast so that she could teach her sister to use it as well.
Tushar Talukdar, former commissioner of Kolkata police and former President of the National Association for the Blinds, was among the guests.
Mukta Nain, director of Birla High School, and social activist and tax expert Narayan Jain were also present.
Last updated on 03 Jul 2023
