BHUBANESWAR: Education is a great liberator, particularly for specially-abled students. And Ravenshaw University at Cuttack understands it well.
The state-run university, the first in Odisha to earn the prestigious NAAC A++ grade, has re-developed its decade-old Bhima Bhoi Braille library incorporating a reading system that is equipped with sophisticated scanners and printer facilities, exclusively devoted to enhancing the learning experience of the visually impaired students.
Considered as one-of-its-kind and largest library for blind students in the State, the facility is unique as it allows a student to print four pages of a braille book in just one minute. Earlier, it would take them a minute to print just one page.
Being the brainchild of the then vice-chancellor BC Tripathy, the Bhima Bhoi Braille library was set up way back in 2013 on the premises of Kanika Library. The Braille library had just six computers then loaded with JAWS (Job Access with Speech) software to convert text into audio. Redevelopment of the library began in 2022 when vice-chancellor Sanjay Kumar Nayak decided to enhance the reading experience for an increasing number of blind students on the campus. Currently, the university has close to 150 blind students pursuing various courses in both UG and PG.
Prof Sambit Panigrahi, who is in charge of the Kanika library, said 20 computers have been installed in the Braille library which is equipped with software that can quickly print any book in braille format. Besides, students can convert a normal book to braille format with the help of a special scanner called ‘Pearl’ installed in the library within a very short span of time, he said. Panigrahi added that an earlier ‘Zoom X’ scanner was used in the library which could only scan the pages. “But the new scanner scans the pages and simultaneously converts them into audio format,” he said and added that the facility is one-of-its-kind in the country.
Today, the library has a collection of 16,000 digital audiobooks of different subjects across all the streams, 106 braille books which includes 62 ‘Bigyan Diganta’ and 162 braille Times Journals. “Besides with the new advanced printer and technology upgradation, they can get any other normal books from Kanika library printed in Braille,” Panigrahi said. A repository of research and academic content in the form of audio lectures, e-content and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has also been prepared for students and these facilities are being extended to students of Ravenshaw higher secondary school too. “Our braille printing facilities were provided for printing of braille ballot papers in the last two general elections in the state,” he informed.
The braille library re-development continued for a year and entailed an expenditure of `15 lakh. The new facilities, which provide equal access to education to both sighted and blind students, helped the university bag the top NAAC grade last year. The university recorded a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 3.58in its second cycle of assessment. While NAAC evaluated the university on seven parameters, it scored the highest 3.91 CGPA under ‘institutional values and best practices’ category for its braille library and community radio (Ravenshaw Radio).
Inclusive education initiatives for the blind students do not end here. The university runs four e-rickshaws for them to facilitate their movement from hostels to the library. These e-rickshaws were donated by alumni members of the university (those who resided in the west and east hostels).
COLLECTION
16,000 - digital audio books of different subjects
106 - braille books across all the streams
62 - ‘Bigyan Diganta’ and 162 braille journals