State Institute of Educational Technology, Kerala, starts audio lessons for blind students

To include students who are blind and have low vision in the mainstream, the State Institute of Educational Technology (SIET-Kerala) is launching teaching materials in audio format with help from Prasar Bharathi.

The first episode of Kettu Kettu Padikkam was broadcast through All India Radio at 9.16 PM last week. The topic was biology.

Instead of reading out text for blind students, as is usually done, SIET will focus on making the format appealing to the students through creative experiments. There are plans to have audio plays.

The focus of the classes is on subjects like science and math as these are harder for students with visual disabilities. The content is currently being developed for blind students from classes 1 to 12. There are plans to expand to non-science subjects later.

The SIET is responsible for the planning, research, production and evaluation of digital content like video, audio programmes, multimedia objects, software, etc. for educational purpose.

The episodes will be broadcast regularly from 20 April 2018 in a 30-minute slot from 9.16 PM.

Around 100 clips will be shown at first. These will also be broadcast on Doordarshan from 6.30 AM to 7.30 AM. They will also be distributed in CD format for free in schools for disabled children.

A teachers’ pool will be formed to create content. A workshop for teachers and experts in the field will be held soon to put together more ideas.