Every child’s dream is to see new things, play with friends, and go to school, but it was a dream that a group of visually impaired tribal children in Chhattisgarh’s Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi district never had. The darkness of their world was stark, and the fact that they were born into a tribal family living in a remote area added to their misery.
Even their parents and peers had given up hope of a “normal” life. However, as the District Collector of the GPM district, an IAS Ms. Richa Prakash Choudhary, took a leap of faith and planned to enroll them in school with the help of an NGO.
Identifying disabled people
Ms. Richa Choudhary said that the main stigma for these families lay in making their children do things like normal children. Due to this they dropped out of the social and
school life.
To combat this stigma, the Collector launched a one-of-a-kind campaign in July 2022 to identify school-age visually impaired children. The orientation programme covered all 21 notable disabilities, and approximately 2500 teachers attended. The day-long interactive online workshop was also attended by master trainers and other institutions. After this workshop, the officer realised that there is a need to take things more proactively.
Around 1100 children with various disabilities were identified, including 120 children in primary school who were partially or completely blind.
Braille training was introduced
An NGO called Ek Kadam, which works for people with disabilities, was present at the workshop and also offered assistance to the district administration in fighting this issue. With their help, a volunteer-based mentoring programme was launched, and eight completely blind children were chosen. A weekly assignment was given to a local volunteer from their tribal area, which included various activities they needed to do with the children and their family.
This continued for a few months, until the child became comfortable. They were taught fundamental concepts through touch, sense, sound, and so on. Following that, braille training was introduced to help them recognise the basic things they had learned, such as alphabets and numbers. These children are sent to school. All textbooks, including NCERT, are being converted to braille, and audio sessions are also being launched.
Through this initiative, visually impaired children and their parents have gained confidence in educating and bettering their children’s lives. Following their studies, the administration will assist them in obtaining other life skills opportunities and will support them in the long run.
