Vijayawada: Six visually impaired students secure first class
Six visually impaired students who cleared the SSC Board exams in first class after taking them in digital mode for the first time in the country at RDT Inclusive School in Anantapur
Vijayawada : For the first time in the country, six visually impaired students took SSC exams in digital mode this year and the government announced they passed successfully in the results released on Saturday.
The Board of Secondary Education (BSE) in Andhra Pradesh conducted the SSC exams from April 3 to 15. Six visually impaired students from RDT Inclusive School in Anantapur district, Polimera Chaitrika, Chenchugari Pavani, Ekkaluri Divyasree, Meka Sridhatri, Ekula Soumya and Uppara Nagarathnamma took the exams at the Government High School in Raptadu. They didn’t seek the help of scribes but utilised laptops to take the exam.
This is for the first time in the country, visually impaired candidates taking the exams either the final board exams or competitive exams in digital mode and the BSE made the required arrangements on a pilot basis. The students were given laptops in which the non-visible desktop access software is installed, and the examination staff converted the question paper into digital mode only after the bundle is opened at the exam centre.
The students are not given any excess time but are compensated for the 15 minutes consumed in converting the question paper and registration of their answer sheet on the server.
These six students took five exams except Hindi, like 1,344 other visually impaired students in the State, and passed Class X in first class. The students thanked their teachers, RDT Trust and Chakshumati NGO Organisation which trained their teachers in assisting them to use laptops to listen and write in regular classes.
Pravin Prakash, Principal Secretary of School Education, said that the government is focusing on providing digital tools to empower physically challenged students to win over their disability and access the content like normal students.
He announced that they were committed to making the Board of Secondary Education the first in the country to conduct exams in digital mode for all challenged students, and they were providing training to 1.8 lakh teachers to achieve it. Commissioner of School Education S Suresh Kumar said that the government was providing various facilities and tools to the physically challenged students through the Samagra Shiksha.
He appreciated the students for coming forward to take the exams in digital mode and passing Class X in the first class. He announced that the government will continue to support them in future also.