Reality Check: Education for the Visually Impaired

Akanksha Mittal

Purpose:
To study the kind of infrastructural facilities required by the blind students in educational institutions to be able to achieve the same standards of learning as those without any handicap and assess on a scale of ten if the public and private schools in the area (Delhi or South Delhi) are able to meet those requirements.

Two Aspects:
• Study the infrastructural requirements of the blind students.
• Assess the competency of public and private schools to meet those requirements in Delhi/South Delhi

1. Study the infrastructural requirements of the blind students:
• Primary Research: Students and authorities in blind schools, psychologists specializing in blind psychology, authorities in the education department.
• Secondary Research: The facilities available to blind students in other cities/countries, what the RTE says about blind students, what eminent educationists say about the infrastructural requirements of blind students.

2. Assess the competency of public and private schools to meet those requirements in Delhi/South Delhi:
• Collect a database of the fee structure of the public and private schools in Delhi from the Deputy Director of Schools.
• Classify schools into three groups according to their fee structure.
• Select an appropriate Sample Space out of each of the three groups
• Interview the management of the schools with regard to the benchmarks set in the first stage. (Here, I am not sure if personal interviews are more suitable or simply a questionnaire can be prepared which can be forwarded to them. Also, the information regarding the same may be provided on the school websites, although not in much details!)

Analysis:
The data collected in Stage 2 needs to be quantified and then analyzed with regard to the benchmarks set in Stage 1. If the hypothesis “there are not enough facilities available to the blind students” is satisfied, then perhaps suggest solutions to the same.

Footnotes:
• Suggestions regarding the sources required for setting the benchmarks are welcome!
• Suggestions regarding the way of collecting information from schools are welcome!