Now, a news bulletin for
the visually challenged
WhatsApp group sends 40-minute audio clip, mostly comprising news, to 4,500 listeners
At 8 o’clock every morning, a
40-minute audio clip will reach the mobile phones of hundreds of visually
challenged Keralites. The clip, containing a news bulletin and a section on
books, has around 4,500 listeners on WhatsApp.
Since June 3 this year, a
WhatsApp group, Vartha,
has been posting the audio clip daily. Since there is a limit to
the number of members in a WhatsApp group, eight separate groups have been
created and three of them are based in the Middle East.
200th bulletin
On December 19, Vartha posted
its 200th bulletin. “We started with 150 members. We could post the audio
bulletin even on holidays by depending on the online editions of three
newspapers,” says G. Ravi, the brain behind the initiative. He is a teacher of
the Government High School Vengapatta and is on deputation as a trainer to
Samagra Shiksha Keralam. He is supported by C.K. Vinodan, a retired AEO; Divya
Damodaran, lecturer, DIET, Kozhikode; and Surendran Puthancherry, a teacher who
looks after the book segment.
The news bulletin focusses on
development and avoids political gossip. The news stories are picked from The Hindu and
two prominent Malayalam dailies. In the section on literature, a book or a
story is introduced. “This group is unique and greatly helpful to the visually
challenged. The book section encourages us to read,” says N. Aswathy, a guest
lecturer at Central University of Kerala in Kasaragod, and who has overcome
visual impairment to earn an M.A. in English Comparative Literature.
Vrinda Ravi, a final year B.Sc.
Botany student of Government College, Madappally, and daughter of Mr. Ravi and
Tomy K.C, a teacher and announcer in Akashvani, also chips in when one of the
four key persons is otherwise engaged.
Book bank
“While working for the Integrated
Education for Disabled Children we realised that visually challenged people had
fewer access to news materials that other differently abled segments. This
prompted up to launch the audio bulletin. It has been well received,” says Mr.
Ravi. An audio book bank has also been created to encourage inputs from
listeners. Anyone can record a brief introduction of a good book and send it to
the team. The ‘Vartha’ production team under Mr. Ravi reviews the bulletin and
feedback to fine tune the bulletin.
Source |
The Hindu | 23rd December 2019
Regards
Mr.
Pralhad Jadhav
Master of
Library & Information Science (NET Qualified)
Senior
Manager @ Knowledge Repository
Khaitan
& Co
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