Hyderabad, Aug. 6 (PTI): In the first experiment of its kind in the country, a charitable organisation here plans to set up an engineering college for the blind with special software to enable them to pursue studies.

The Devnar Foundation for the Blind, which runs a reputed school for the less privileged in the city, has applied to BITS, Pilani for affiliation for the proposed college, said its chairman A Saibaba Goud.

"We are confident of getting affiliation from them and if we don't, we will approach another institution like the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University. But I am 100 per cent confident that our proposal will be accepted by some university or institution," he said.

Goud said the idea of setting up the college came up when he found that many visually challenged students of Devnar School aspired to "make it big in life".

"Blind students are in no way inferior to others. Many of them are very sharp and hard working. In the old days, they would want to be telephone operators or to get similar jobs," he said.

"But now they aspire to become software professionals and to be at par with other youngsters in a software hub like Hyderabad."

Goud cited the example of two students -- Nagababu and Pavan -- who were selected by software giant Wipro.

Nagababu was recruited by the company after completing his engineering from Vijayawada, while Pavan, though selected by the firm after completing a course at a polytechnic, chose to pursue engineering instead.

Goud said the students of Devnar School are taught how to operate computers from Class VI and are able to browse the internet by the time they come to Class IX.

"This education is imparted using the latest computers and a special software called Jaws which converts a personal computer into a talking computer for the visually challenged children who learn mostly by sound," he said.

The ability to operate a computer would make the students confident of pursuing an engineering course, he said.

The Devnar School was adjudged the country's best school for students with disabilities in 2002 and has also won a President's award.

Goud said the Devnar Foundation planned to restrict the intake of students for the engineering college to 40-50 a year and to select them on merit. Information technology will be the main specialisation offered in the proposed institution.

"If the students are good, then they will be able to pick things up fast," he said.