Hyderabad: As many as 132 students with visual disabilities from Hyderabad’s Devnar Foundation for the Blind will appear for the Intermediate examinations this year, an achievement the institution says is a world record of sorts.
According to a press note released by the NGO, as many as 76 students from the second year and 56 from the first year Intermediate are enrolled to take the exams this year. “Nowhere in the world such huge number of visually challenged students are taking Intermediate 1st and 2nd year exams from a single college,” Devnar said.
Another highlight for the institute this year has been the selection of its second-year Intermediate student, Ganapathi from Nagar Kurnool, to represent India in Southeast Asian running competitions.
The foundation said many of its former students are now employed in banks, multinational corporations, government departments and private firms, “leading independent lives and supporting their families,” the press note said.
Officials said Devnar’s emphasis on computer education from Class 6 onwards has helped several students with visual disabilities get admission to leading institutions, such as central universities, Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) and national law schools, with one former student having already graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.
Founded in 1992 to provide English-medium education to children with visual disabilities, the Hyderabad-based institution has, over the past three decades, grown into a multi-tier educational centre, offering schooling, Intermediate and degree courses to more than 600 students from across the country.
The NGO said it provides trained teachers and round-the-clock academic supervision to its students and continues to admit children from across the country, in keeping with its long-standing focus on inclusive education.
