KOCHI: The Kerala Federation of the Blind (KFB) has demanded that the government must implement the 3 percent reservation quota promised for physically-challenged persons as per the Parliament Act. Demanding that visually-challenged children should be given free education, the federation said that in families where a child among four normal children is blind, usually he is not sent to school.
Making these demands on the Helen Keller Day, which is celebrated as the Day of the Blind, the federation urged the government to immediately implement the job reservation quota for the visually-challenged.
At a function organised by the district wing of the Kerala Federation for the Blind (KFB), study material for visually-challenged children were distributed at a function in Kochi on Monday.
Organised in affiliation with the SBI and the SBT, the function was inaugurated by Mayor Tony Chammany.
In his address, K J Varghese, KFB vice-president talked about the challenges faced by visually-challenged persons in the country.
Quoting Keller’s words “the chief handicap of the blind is not the blindness, but the attitude of the seeing people towards them”, he said that it was society’s moral duty to help and encourage them in all walks of life.
Saying that the blind don’t need compassion, he appealed to the society to promote eye donation.
“There must be free education for the blind, irrespective of their parents’ income, so as to ensure their social security,” he remarked.
He also asserted that the visually-challenged were not just “vote banks” and asked the government for proper representation and opportunities for the community.
"The actual blind ones are those who turn a blind eye to physically-challenged people,” said the Mayor.
Chammany also promised greater help from the Kochi Corporation in the future.
Deputy Mayor Bhadra Satheesh was also present in the ceremony and recalled the inspirational deeds of Keller in the presidential address.
The Mayor then felicitated Nithya Nelson and Keerthi Babu, two visually-challenged girls who had scored top marks in the public examinations.
There was also free medical check-up and medicine distribution by the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation.