President Murmu: Make education accessible to children with disabilities via technology

President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday, December 3 stressed the maximum use of technology to remove language-related barriers in education and to make education more accessible to children with disabilities.

She presented the National Awards for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities for 2021 and 2022 in New Delhi on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, PTI reported. Addressing the gathering, the President said that according to an estimate by the United Nations, more than one billion people in the world are persons with disabilities.

It means almost every eighth person in the world has a disability in some form or the other. More than two per cent of India's population are persons with disabilities. Therefore, it becomes the responsibility of all to ensure that persons with disabilities can lead a dignified life independently, she said, as per PTI. "It is also our duty to ensure that they get a good education, stay safe in their homes and society, have the freedom to choose their career and have equal employment opportunities," she said.

The President also said that in Indian culture and tradition, disability has never been considered a hindrance in acquiring knowledge and achieving excellence. "Often, it has been seen that divyangjan are gifted with divine qualities. There are innumerable examples in which our divyang brothers and sisters have achieved impressive feats in many fields on the strength of their indomitable courage, talent and determination. Given enough opportunities and the right environment, they can excel in every field," she said, as per PTI. 

She said education is key to the empowerment of every individual, including persons with disabilities. "We should make maximum use of technology in order to remove language-related barriers in education and to make education more accessible to children with disabilities," she said.

Measures taken for inclusion 

She said she was happy to note that the conversion of NCERT textbooks for Classes I to VI into Indian sign language for hearing-impaired children has been done. She said that it is an important initiative to include hearing-impaired students in the mainstream education process.

The President said the government is taking several steps for the empowerment of divyangjan.  "People with disabilities have talents and abilities just like normal people, and sometimes more than them. To make them self-reliant, it is only necessary to instil in them self-confidence," she said. She urged all sections of society to motivate the divyangjan to become self-reliant and move ahead in life. 

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment gives away the National Awards for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities every year to individuals, institutions, organisations, state/district, etc. for their outstanding achievements and work done towards empowerment of persons with disabilities.

The applications short-listed by the screening committees were considered by the national selection committee in its meeting held on November 2 and recommended 25 awardees for the year 2021 and 29 awardees for 2022.