Bhubaneswar: Amway India has partnered with Turnstone Global, formerly known as National Association for the Blind to set up a Braille library for the visually impaired students at Bhima Bhoi School for the Blind in Bhubaneswar today.
Dr. Binoy Behera, DGP, Fire (IPS), Bhubaneswar graced the occasion as the chief guest and inaugurated the Library in presence of Smt. Snehamayee Senapati, Deputy Director, Directorate of Secondary Education, Odisha, Bhubaneswar in the presence of G.C Patro , Principal ,BhimaBhoi School for the Blind, Sumit Dasgupta, Turnstone Global and RanaPratap Pradhan, Cluster Operations Manager, Odisha Amway India.
The library will offer Braille versions of a variety of books & journals and CDs ranging from academic books, fiction, self-help, general knowledge for the benefit of more than 85 visually impaired students who otherwise have limited access to books. The Library is also equipped with computers that will enable students to access more than 30 CDs.
Commenting on the occasion Dr. Binoy Behera, said, “This is a commendable initiative shown by Amway India in a very noble and spirited cause. I sincerely believe the boys of the school will benefit immensely from the facility and hope that the effort encourages other organisations to do likewise. Such a combined endeavour will be a step in the right direction towards ensuring a more level playing field between the physically challenged and those less disadvantaged.”
Elaborating on the initiative, G.S. Cheema, Sr. Vice President – North & East, Amway India, said, “We have been working tirelessly towards the welfare of the visually impaired with a firm belief that education and knowledge is the key to the future that create opportunities transcending physical limitations. A Braille library is a key component of that strategy. We are in the process of launching 31 braille libraries across the country. We are delighted to have partnered with Turnstone Global who is helping us set up these Braille libraries in Eastern Region.”
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. KanchanGaba, Secretary,Turnstone Global, said “We are happy to inaugurate braille library with Amway India at Bhima Bhoi school for the Blind, Bhubaneswar. Such types of Libraries in different blind schools and organization working with the blind are very fruitful to impart education for the blind. Through the braille libraries a blind person can quest for his knowledge and discover his potentialities through reading braille books. I personally and from the Turnstone Global thank Amway India and Bhima Bhoi School for the blind for giving such wonderful opportunity to set up the library. We are committed for the welfare of the blind and we shall be available for any further support”.
Amway under the National Project for the Visually Impaired, has taken various initiatives to support the cause of visually impaired including:-
Amway has supported more than 85,000 visually impaired children with Braille textbooks across 12 States.
Amway has been providing computer training to the visually impaired since 2008, and has set up 15 computer centers across the country. A total of 1000 visually impaired individuals are getting benefited at the Amway supported computer centers.
Amway has also set-up 2 audio libraries in Indore and Madurai; launched a travel and tourism course in Kolkata; set-up a BPO in Madurai, set-up a Braille Library in Bangalore; set-up music academies for the visually impaired in Chandigarh, Raipur and Guwahati.
Amway has supported the program digitizing class XIIth educational material for National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), as well as select graduation and post-graduation educational material for Delhi University, Mumbai University and Hyderabad/EFLU University, which is helping different abled especially visually impaired students across the country.
Amway’s commitment to educate the visually-impaired, led Amway to launch an Android-based application ‘Accessible Reader’, which leverages available text-to-speech engines and makes it convenient for the visually impaired to read digital documents.
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