BHAVANA CHANDAK (FALOR) MAHANAB SCHOOL FOR BLIND GIRLS:
Since there was no separate school for blind girls in the Nashik area, the NAB Unit Maharashtra decided to start a residential school for them in 1990. Government permission was granted for three years on a non-grantable basis. Since the school did not have its own premises, it kept moving from place to place until finally a plot in the MIDC area was acquired for its own residential building. Initially, the Government had issued a license to admit only 40 girls. It was subsequently extended to 65 girls in the 1st to 4th standards. From the 5th standard onwards, the girls are sent to higher classes in the nearby integrated schools. NAB, Unit Maharashtra provides them free hostel accommodation in a clean environment with nutritious food, regular medical checkups, and uniform. In addition to their academic excellence, our visually impaired girls have been awarded the first prize in interstate dance competitions held at Kolkata and Madurai. Three years in succession, the school has secured top awards and ranked first in state-level drama competitions. Further, the girls have excelled in rope mulkhamb too and have won the first prize in state-level rope mulkhamb competition.
NAB NICE VIJAY MERCHANT MEMORIAL WORKSHOP CUM TRAINING CENTRE:
Activities like making chalks, brooms, files and candles are quite conventional and common. But NAB continues to do out-of-the-box thinking. Our visually impaired students have acquired skills in operating handloom weaving equipment to make bedsheets, pillow covers and towels. They make beautifully decorated artificial flower bouquets as well as paper bags that replace plastic bags. Body massage, plumbing and computer courses have been added to our range of educational offerings. So far 16 masseurs and 14 plumbers have been trained and successfully employed. Plumbers are authorized and licensed by the Municipal Corporation. Forty computer operators have successfully completed MSCIT course. One of our visually impaired students stood first in the MSCIT exam which was common for sighted and visually impaired persons!
D.Ed. AND B.Ed. S.E. (V.I.) COURSES:
A shortage of specially trained teachers for visually impaired and for persons with multiple disabilities was adversely affecting their educational and career opportunities. In order to overcome this problem, we started D.Ed. S.E. (VI) and B.Ed. S.E. (VI) courses under the auspices of the Rehabilitation Council of India, New Delhi and the Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Nashik. All students graduated successfully through five successive batches and now have been gainfully employed.
MAHANAB TRAINING CENTRE:
In order to update and improve student knowledge and skills, our affiliated institutions regularly conduct refresher training programmes at NAB Sankul, Nashik. Following are the available training courses:
- Foundation Course of the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), New Delhi
- Continuing, Rehabilitation, Education programme (CRE) course of the RCI
- Bridge course of the RCI
- Several other short term courses are organized regularly, throughout the year.
DISTRIBUTION OF PLEX TALK MACHINES:
With the advent of technology, the distribution of C.D. Players to visually impaired persons has been replaced by “Plex Talk” machines. Introduced and supplied by the National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities, Deharadun. The machine has in-built music system, FM station and SD memory card. The machine reads syllabus for the visually impaired students. So far, 295 Plex Talk machines have been distributed to our students.
COMPUTER LAB:
“Arnet India” is a Government of India (Ministry of Information and Technology) undertaking. It has donated 10 computers, one Braille printer and its software to NAB, Unit Maharashtra. This has facilitated our students to operate the computer independently. The sight of our visually impaired children operating computers without the help of sighted persons gives us immense satisfaction and a sense of achievement.
BRAILLE LIBRARY:
With financial support from the Rotary Club of Nashik (West), we have started a long awaited Braille library. This library is equipped with various reference books, biographies of some great national figures, Mahabharata, Ramayana, fictional stories etc. in Braille. It is open for all visually impaired persons in the state free of cost.
READING MACHINES FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSONS:
The Yashawantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University has generously donated an imported “SARA” reading machine to NAB, Unit Maharashtra. This machine scans a book page and reads it aloud in a controlled, desired level of volume. Sara machine reads only English books. At a time about 30 visually impaired persons can use the machine. However, it has its own limitations. Some brilliant entrepreneurs at the TATA Institute of Social Sciences went a step ahead and invented a 100% indigenous “GRAPHITE” machine on a similar concept at a very reasonable cost. It is a revolutionary learning platform built for inclusive learning. Usage of “Graphite” has been found to substantially speed up the learning process and encourage our students to go beyond the set syllabus and read other books on history, biography etc. potentially enhancing the likelihood for future employment. Graphite reads three languages, English, Hindi and Marathi. We have recently bought Graphite machines for the benefit of our students.
VISION:
It’s a quarterly magazine published by NAB (Maharashtra) through which all the welfare activities being carried out by state branch and its district of VI and disabled persons are published very quarter through this magazine.
