The case studies of blind children studying in residential schools of Bangalore City’ by DK Nagaraj is a report compiled in the form of a book and it has been submitted as part of a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the author’s degree in Master of Education.
Though the subject chosen by Nagaraj is a noble one which throws light on the need to provide equal opportunities to the visually challenged, the study conducted is purely descriptive in nature. Moreover, the book needs some substantial editing as there are many glaring grammatical mistakes along with repetitions.
There is also a chapter on Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille which is a system of reading and writing used by people who are blind or visually impaired.
The author has basically chosen ten residential schools in the city and done a case study on individual students which includes their family background, financial and economic conditions, their likes and dislikes along with a table showing the scholastic achievements of the student. There are teacher’s comments in every case study along with the investigator’s comment. Firstly, the case study is very generic and the investigator’s comment doesn’t tell the reader anything new. A case study of this nature probably requires more time, research and a refined thought process which could tell us much more than delving into the subject’s interests and feelings. Ironically, the characteristics of a good case study has been quoted in the book, which includes completeness, validation of data, continuity, confidential recordings and scientific synthesis. However, features such as scientific synthesis do not figure in the study and there are no valid interpretations drawn. A case study pertaining to a sensitive subject like this probably should have covered more schools where visually challenged students study and it required speaking to students who are blind and can’t afford to go to schools in order to get a better picture. The book talks about inclusive education wherein physically-challenged kids should be accepted along with the other ‘normal’ students. It also has an interesting example of a factory in Trivandrum which is run by visually challenged people including the founder which makes the book a tad better.
All in one all, it is an interesting subject chosen by the author but it should have been presented in a better manner with information that matters.