Blind students to get computers

PESHAWAR: The blind students in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will get computers and in the first phase of the scheme about 85 male and female students of 11 institutes for the blind will receive computers tomorrow (Monday).

The distribution of computers is part of the provincial government’s programme to put the education discipline for the special students on modern lines to make it competitive in the contemporary world.

Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department Director Muhammad Naeem Khan told The News on Saturday that the provincial government was going to launch an elaborate programme to educate the visually impaired student in a way to enable them to compete in the contemporary world of digital marvels.

He said that 85 computers would be provided to the students of 11 institutions at a cost of Rs10 million in the phase of the computerisation of the institutions for the blind across the province.

Naeem Khan said 293 visually impaired male and female students of these intuitions would benefit from the scheme while in the second phase more computers would be provided to these institutions.

The official added that special software had been installed on these computers for the use of the blind. He said the provincial government under its comprehensive programme was upgrading institutes for the blind and a number of facilities were being added to the existing schools for the blind.

Naeem Khan added that the staff and students of these institutes were facing numerous problems in getting books and other materials in braille as there was no braille printing press in the province.

However, the government has approved budget for a braille printing press, which would also be set up during the current financial year that would resolve the long-lasting problems of the teachers and students of the institutions for the blind. The official said the computers would be distributed at a ceremony at the Government Institute for the Blind (GIB-male), Peshawar on Monday.