Source: THE HINDU-26th January,2020
‘Swalekhan’ will help the obviate the need for hard-to-find scribes by allowing students to type in answers
An Android-based application (App) built on the basis of a technology
innovation promises to academically empower visually impaired students by
freeing them of their dependence on scribes while writing exams.
The Swalekhan (self-writing) app is a tech offering
conceptualised by the city-based Niwant Andh Mukta Vikasalaya, an NGO that
works for the betterment of the visually impaired individuals, and developed by
Josh Software, a Pune-based IT services company specialising in providing
global tech solutions, in conjunction with Tekvision, a leading accessibility
service provider whose workforce comprises a significant number of visually
impaired technocrats.
The Android text-to-speech app (typing tutor), which is aimed at helping
visually impaired students reduce their reliance on scribes and took three
years to create, has been embraced by more than 20 schools across Maharashtra
since its launch in mid-2019. As many as 600 students from Pune, Shrirampur,
Nanded, Nashik, Aurangabad and Buldhana districts have been taking lessons to
type with the help of this application. From helping master the keys by using
an innovative braille paper overlay, to aiding students in listening and grasping
78 innovative and interactive lessons, Swalekhan uses a combination of
human voices as well as Text-to-Speech guided assistance.
“Our institute has been working with visually impaired students for more than
two decades,” said Uma Badve, trustee, Niwant Andh Mukta Vikasalaya. “In all
this time, the most frequent complaint from students is of not having the
independence to write their own exams and their frustration at their overt
dependence on scribes, who are normally hard to find and are generally inefficient.
Hence, we decided to come up with a technology to empower these children that
would help them write their own exams,” she added. Ms. Badve said all lessons
were designed in Marathi to enable students to write in the vernacular.
