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Sunday, 4 August 2013

484 laptops distributed among disabled students : Delhi University

Delhi University has started distributing laptops but only to students belonging to the persons-with-disability category. As many as 484 laptops have already been distributed through DU's equal opportunity cell. The ones for the general category, however, will take longer.


"Till Monday, we had distributed 477. Today we gave seven more," says Bipin Tiwary, deputy dean and officer on special duty, EOC, adding, "The vice-chancellor's promise is being fulfilled." Fifty one colleges received laptops and the distribution has been on the basis of admission data provided by them to the EOC. "Not all colleges are giving them to the students just yet as admissions are still on but if they end up with extra, they will keep the machines for the use of senior students," says Tiwary.

Some colleges are holding functions - Kirori Mal did on Tuesday with Tiwary, Usha Rao and ZVS Prasad (planning and finance officer) attending - for distribution.

Students will be allowed to keep the laptops for the entire duration of their four-year undergraduate programme. The laptops - Lenovo Thinkpads - have Windows operating systems and come with a variety of software for accessibility. "They come with screen readers and an open-source software to help students study mathematics," says Tiwary, "Besides that, the operating system comes with some built-in accessibility features. There will be tools to convert sounds to text for the hearing impaired and students will be able to assign keys for certain functions if they can't use both hands."

Shri Ram College of Commerce, however, has already started handing the laptops to the students. "We got 17 laptops and have already distributed 14. We have taken the names and signatures of students who have received the machines. They will have to bring the machines back every three months for inspection," says principal, P C Jain.

With inputs from Medha Roy Prakasam


Source : TOI , 31st July 2013




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