Nearly 500 visually-challenged teachers in Kerala to be trained in ICT

Close to 500 visually-challenged teachers in Kerala would be trained in the various facets of Information and Communication Technology, to help them handle their subjects effectively using technology, in a month's time said an official of the State's IT@School Project.

This will be done under the project as a part of implementing the Hi-Tech School programme in the state, said project Chief K. Anvar Sadath.

By now more than a lakh teachers in the State-run schools have been trained under the programme.

Earlier in 2011, IT@School had imparted basic IT training for all visually-challenged teachers in the State, and received special appreciation from Union Human Resource Development Ministry.

With the completion of the current training, Kerala would become the first state in the country to have trained all visually-challenged teachers in ICT, which focusses on the possibilities of ICT in education, rather than a mere training on computers.

"The training for the regular teachers emphasise on specific subject wise content, developed entirely on free and open-source software platform. The accessibility gaps of the software used for such training are assessed and then new customised packages are being incorporated, for the benefit of the visually-challenged teachers," said Sadath.

The specific training includes activities such as preparation of those documents and presentations that would assist in classroom teaching of every teacher, language computing, digital content collection from the Internet and their legal aspects, audio recording and video editing. The educational applications that are used for the regular training are customised for the benefit of the visually-challenged teachers.

"The joy goes up to its peak now as we are learning to apply it in our classrooms. It's like we are getting our eyes back," said Sebastian, a thrilled learner, who is almost fully blind and works as a teacher in a State-run school in Ernakulam district.