Engineering college for
 the blind in Andhra soon

Andhra Pradesh which is considered as an education hub in India would soon add another feather in its cap with Asia’s first engineering college for the blind proposed to be set up near Hyderabad. The novel initiative has been undertaken by city-based Devnar Foundation for the Blind with help from professors of Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, in developing the course material. Devnar Foundation, which runs a school and a junior college for the visually-impaired children, has developed a digital library using indigenously developed software by downloading textbooks’ and general knowledge books’ material onto a CD with MP3 format. “We are ready with the syllabus. The government has responded positively to our request for allotment of about two to three acres of land. We also have donors ready to help and also the faculty to teach,” said the Foundation Chairman A Saibaba Goud. An Opthalmologist-philanthropist, Goud started the Devnar Foundation in 1991 to provide education and vocational skills to the visually-impaired children and the organisation has won wide acclaim and several national awards for its work. Eight students from the Devnar School went on to complete engineering from the mainstream engineering colleges and one of them is even pursuing higher studies in Boston, USA. This prompted Goud to set up an engineering college in the city. Andhra Pradesh, incidentally, boasts of the highest number of 700 engineering colleges in the country. However, none of them has customized courses to cater to the needs of the visually-impaired students. The Devnar School for Blind has been offering English medium education right from primary school level up to 12th standard. “It is a long-cherished dream for us to provide a right platform for the visually-impaired students to pursue professional courses,” he said. “We have applied to BITS, Pilani, and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad, for affiliation. We are planning to restrict the the intake to 40-50 students per year and select students strictly on merit basis,” Goud said. - Khaleejtimes