Thiruvananthapuram: For the first time, 238
visually challenged teachers of Kerala have been enabled to
operate computers under the state run IT@School Project, which
provides information technology training to teachers and students,
an official said Thursday.
The teachers have been trained under the 'Digital Inclusion'
programme for five days. They have been imparted Information
Communication and Technology (ICT) training with the Free and Open
Source Software (FOSS)-based screen reading software named ORCA.
The training started with the visually challenged teachers getting
familiarized with keyboard typing and gradually learning the
basics of operating system, besides video players, including sound
recording and also internet, K.Anvar Sadath, executive director of
the project, told IANS.
The trained teachers will receive their certificates Friday. The
programme was conducted at the project's centres spread across the
state.
"To implement a complete ICT enabled educational system in the
state, it was important that differentially-abled teachers are
also trained," said Sadath.
This FOSS software has been provided to all schools in Kerala for
the benefit of differentially-abled teachers and students. It can
be shared with anyone because it is free.
"Despite using computers for the first time in their life, the
enthusiasm of these teachers got to a high when they started to
prepare the documents," said Rajaneesh, one of the visually
challenged trainers.
IT@School Project imparts training to an estimated two lakh
teachers and five million students each year in government and
government-aided schools.
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