HYDERABAD: Teaching methods followed at the Hyderabad-based Devnar School for the Blind might make way into classrooms of schools for visually challenged located in Sri Lanka. The neighbouring country’s Social Empowerment and Welfare minister SB Dissanayake and his team would visit the school June 24, which coincides with the silver jubilee celebrations of the school, to study the teaching methods, said founder of Devnar School for the Blind Dr A Saibaba Goud.
The founder said he had conducted workshops in Colombo last year for teaching staff of blind schools and it was during that trip he met the Social Empowerment minister.
At the school, apart from Braille papers, other teaching methods include audio tapes, software which convert text into audio tapes after scanning text books, machines which read texts fed to computers and prints it in braille form, which enlarges the font size on screens helping partially blind students.
These methods were incorporated over a time period of 25-years of establishing the school. “I met Dissanayake and said if they come to our school, they will get to know what we do. We sent a formal letter and they accepted it. Agenda of the visit is to study techniques here,” he said.
Teams abroad visit school to study teaching methods
Last year, an 18-year-old visually challenged student from Sri Lanka stayed at the Devnar School to learn computer software. Earlier, teams from China, Somalia, United Kingdom visited the school to study the teaching methods. Dr Saibaba said such methods are not followed in any school for visually challenged students throughout the country. Staff at the school said that visually challenged students can book train tickets by themselves through IRCTC website.