Ray of hope for physically challenged
Vijay Upadhyay
Agra. Blindness poses scores of restrictions on a person, some of which include the inability to gain education through the books available only for 'normal' people.
Blind since birth, Shravan Kumar Savita had never thought his blindness could become an unsurpassable hurdle in his quest for gaining higher education.
As there was a shortage of sufficient literature in Braille till two years back he had to discontinue his quest for obtaining a PhD in history. But with Agra University now going ahead with its plan to set up a research institute for blind scholars by the end of this month his long wait is now about to end. Talking to The Pioneer, Shravan Kumar said that he had to go through a tough time dividing his time between Agra, Gwalior, Haridwar, Gorakhpur and back to Agra to fulfil his dream.
What helped him in his pursuit was that he was one of the brightest students of the Raja Balwant Singh College of Agra and this helped him, attain the Master's degree in Education in the year 2001.
But when he tried to attain a Ph.D. in history, which was his favourite subject, he found that most of the literature required in his quest for a doctorate, had never been translated into Braille and working as an English teacher in a private blind school in Agra on a bare minimum salary, he could hardly afford an expensive "Braille Reader" needed to convert 'normal' text into Braille. His desire for a Ph D would have remained unfulfilled if he had not met Agra University Vice-Chancellor Bhumitra Dev, who, on a chance visit to the Keetham lake on Sunday, met Shravan Kumar and was quite impressed by his academic achievements despite his blindness.
After hearing Shravan's story, the Vice-Chancellor promised to do 'something' to help him fulfil his desire for a doctorate. After returning to the University immediately afterwards, Dev announced the setting up of a Research Institute for Blind Scholars at the University, to aid blind scholars who had a desire to study further and make their contribution to the society.
Later, talking to The Pioneer, the Vice-Chancellor said that the University's research institute for blind scholars would be ready by the end of this month where specially equipped Braille readers would be installed to allow the blind scholars to read all the literature available for 'normal' people to pursue their higher studies.
Agra. Blindness poses scores of restrictions on a person, some of which include the inability to gain education through the books available only for 'normal' people.
Blind since birth, Shravan Kumar Savita had never thought his blindness could become an unsurpassable hurdle in his quest for gaining higher education.
As there was a shortage of sufficient literature in Braille till two years back he had to discontinue his quest for obtaining a PhD in history. But with Agra University now going ahead with its plan to set up a research institute for blind scholars by the end of this month his long wait is now about to end. Talking to The Pioneer, Shravan Kumar said that he had to go through a tough time dividing his time between Agra, Gwalior, Haridwar, Gorakhpur and back to Agra to fulfil his dream.
What helped him in his pursuit was that he was one of the brightest students of the Raja Balwant Singh College of Agra and this helped him, attain the Master's degree in Education in the year 2001.
But when he tried to attain a Ph.D. in history, which was his favourite subject, he found that most of the literature required in his quest for a doctorate, had never been translated into Braille and working as an English teacher in a private blind school in Agra on a bare minimum salary, he could hardly afford an expensive "Braille Reader" needed to convert 'normal' text into Braille. His desire for a Ph D would have remained unfulfilled if he had not met Agra University Vice-Chancellor Bhumitra Dev, who, on a chance visit to the Keetham lake on Sunday, met Shravan Kumar and was quite impressed by his academic achievements despite his blindness.
After hearing Shravan's story, the Vice-Chancellor promised to do 'something' to help him fulfil his desire for a doctorate. After returning to the University immediately afterwards, Dev announced the setting up of a Research Institute for Blind Scholars at the University, to aid blind scholars who had a desire to study further and make their contribution to the society.
Later, talking to The Pioneer, the Vice-Chancellor said that the University's research institute for blind scholars would be ready by the end of this month where specially equipped Braille readers would be installed to allow the blind scholars to read all the literature available for 'normal' people to pursue their higher studies.
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