Braille Press Machine left unused for years
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, May 30 2014 :
A Braille Press Machine meant for printing Braille books for the blind in the State has remained unused for more than three years now, with the Social Welfare Department claiming that skilled operators for the printer are yet to be engaged.
A source informed Friday that the Social Welfare Department procured the Braille Press Machine three years back, since then it has been lying unused in the building of the department owing to lack of skilled operators for the machine.
Text books for the State's Blind Schools are bought from Kolkata by post in the absence of a Braille Press Machine for printing such books for the poor blind students.
An MA blind student told Hueiyen Lanpao that he wants the State's Braille Press Machine to start publication of text books at the earliest.
"I want to read other books too.
A number of novels, stories and other books related to the history of Manipur written by native authors can be published if there is a Braille printer," he said.
Many educated blind persons in the State also need to study several books of general knowledge and refresher course to take part in competitive exams, he said, adding text books alone cannot help them in such exams.
He further pointed out that buying books from outside the State need more money, and most of the blind persons in the State just cannot afford them.