IGNOU to launch centre for disabled: NCDS

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) will soon establish the first resource centre for the disabled to provide them exclusive skill development courses.


The varsity’s National Center for Disability Studies (NCDS) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Kerala-based Society for Promoting Alternative Computing and Employment (SPACE), which in turn will establish many such centres across the country.


‘A certificate programme on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for the blind will enable them to access information on the internet, ‘read’ scanned pages of printed material on computer, create digital information and communicate with others using ICT,’ said NCDS director Arun Banik.
‘Within two years, ten more centres will be established in the country,’ he added.


According to Banik, the centers shall act as learning cum ICT related activity hub for the disabled.
‘It will undertake production of audio content such as audio books, provide public internet access to the visually challenged, act as technology support centres and thus evolve into activity hubs for the visually challenged in the future,’ he added.


The course as well as the research centre will leverage on a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) which will ensure that students have the freedom to copy the software and share it with their friends, he added.


Source: IANS

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