Thaindian News

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 4 (IANS) For the first time, 238 visually challenged teachers of Kerala have been enabled to operate computers under the state run IT@School Project, which provides information technology training to teachers and students, an official said Thursday.

The teachers have been trained under the ‘Digital Inclusion’ programme for five days. They have been imparted Information Communication and Technology (ICT) training with the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)-based screen reading software named ORCA.

The training started with the visually challenged teachers getting familiarized with keyboard typing and gradually learning the basics of operating system, besides video players, including sound recording and also internet, K.Anvar Sadath, executive director of the project, told IANS.

The trained teachers will receive their certificates Friday. The programme was conducted at the project’s centres spread across the state.

“To implement a complete ICT enabled educational system in the state, it was important that differentially-abled teachers are also trained,” said Sadath.

This FOSS software has been provided to all schools in Kerala for the benefit of differentially-abled teachers and students. It can be shared with anyone because it is free.

“Despite using computers for the first time in their life, the enthusiasm of these teachers got to a high when they started to prepare the documents,” said Rajaneesh, one of the visually challenged trainers.

IT@School Project imparts training to an estimated two lakh teachers and five million students each year in government and government-aided schools.