BOON FOR BRAILLE

Guwahati, March 6: The Government Braille Press in the city has sought the help of experts from IIT Guwahati to create a software that will produce Braille books in Assamese.

Although the press has been printing Braille books in English since 2006, it has been facing difficulty in translating Braille materials into Assamese because of faulty software.

The state social welfare department had set up the press to print reading material, class notes, question papers and training materials for blind students.

Ever since it became operational in 2006, the press has been producing sufficient Braille material in English. But it has been unable to arrange for similar materials in Assamese.

As a result, 500 students in six blind schools across the state are finding it difficult to study in the vernacular language.

Apart from the two blind schools in the city, there are similar schools in Jorhat, Nagaon, Moran (in Dibrugarh district) and Bihpuria in North Lakhimpur district.

“Although we started printing Braille since 2006, the software installed to translate these materials into Assamese has been giving us trouble from the very beginning. We replaced it twice, but with no result. Printing errors like absence of certain letters and repetition of sentences occur. So we had to stall printing in Assamese,” said M. Hussain, manager of the Government Braille Press.

“We have now approached IIT experts for help as they have the skill as well as the technology to produce Braille software. They have assured us help and will let us know once the new software is ready,” Hussain said.