Date:26/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/26/stories/2006102604940400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Set up more schools for visually impaired'

Staff Reporter

Such persons should be brought into the mainstream of society: H.K. Kumaraswamy

INTERACTION: Freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy (centre) speaking to students with disabilities at the seminar on `Trends and challenges in the orientation and mobility of the visually challenged' in Bangalore on Wednesday. Member of the Rajya Sabha Pre ma Cariappa is at right. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

Bangalore: Of the total number of people with disabilities in Bangalore, at least 40 per cent are visually impaired, according to Minister for Women and Child Development H.K. Kumaraswamy.

He was speaking at the inaugural function of a national seminar on "Trends and challenges in the orientation and mobility of the visually challenged" here on Wednesday. The seminar was organised by the Karnataka Welfare Association for the Blind (KWAB) and Surana College.

The Minister said those with visual impairment should be brought into the mainstream of society, and non-governmental organisations and private institutions should help the Government in this regard. "Visually challenged persons are almost always skilled. Efforts should be made to help them develop those skills," he said.

Mr. Kumaraswamy said the Government was committed to solving the problems faced by visually impaired people. "I will urge the authorities concerned and make sure that allocations are made in the next fiscal for the betterment of the disabled," he said.

He said efforts would be made to open more schools for the visually impaired children. The three per cent reservation in class three posts in the Department of Education was not being followed. "We had written to the department and urged them to recruit teachers who were visually challenged. The matter even went to the court where the ruling was in our favour," he said.

H.S. Doreswamy, freedom fighter, inaugurated the seminar. He said the skills of visually impaired people had to be capitalised upon. He also said that the country had the largest number of visually impaired people in the world. The Government should take steps for their welfare, he said.

Mr. Kumaraswamy felicitated Mr. Doreswamy on the occasion. Prema Cariappa, MP; S.P. Murthy, KWAB honorary general secretary; and B.V. Mallikarjunaiah, KWAB president, spoke.

K.R. Radhakrishna, principal of Surana College, was present.