Towards Inclusivity! Odisha Government To Set Up World-Class Laboratory For Visually Challenged

The Integrated Infrastructure Complex (IIC), set up across multiple districts of Odisha with the aim of empowering those with special needs, the senior citizens, and the destitute, will be welcoming a world-class laboratory facility for the visually challenged.

With its newest installation, they hope to improve the lives of the visually challenged through adequate infrastructural support for learning and skill development. Many leading NGOs and social workers, who have coordinated along in the project over time, would also be contributing to this addition to the IIC.

Khordha To Become More Inclusive

The Khordha district in Odisha has been selected as the location to establish the world-class facility laboratory. The concerned department and officials have said that reading equipment such as the Kindle would be provided to each student at the Complex, along with additional technological aids that cater to the visually impaired. All these would be brought about with the objective of creating a better learning experience with materials that would enable them to study.

A single window portal will be developed ahead of this initiative to maintain records of all agencies, non-governmental organisations, teaching and non-teaching staff and students of special schools in the IICs. Currently, the IIC initiative in Khordha provides social security to children with special needs and senior citizens.

The decision to expand it to reach more vulnerable groups was made during a recent review meeting that discussed the progress of IICs in the ten districts of Khordha, Cuttack, Puri, Kandhamal, Sambalpur, Bhadrak, Malkangiri, Sundargarh, Ganjam and Nabarangpur.

5T Initiative Of Odisha Government

It was undertaken by the Commissioner of the Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) Department, Bhaskar Sarma. As per reports by the New Indian Express, the initiative would be implemented under the 5T initiative of the State government, under which the IIC project falls as well.

The 5T initiative was a citizen-centric governance mechanism that was adopted by the Odisha Government that analyses the performance of government officials and projects through factors such as teamwork, technology, transparency, transformation and time limit.

It was in 2021 when the State Government approved the construction of the first phase of IICs in 18 districts. The centres were to have old age homes and schools for the specially-abled, particularly the visually challenged and hearing impaired students. Many IICs had turned functional within January 2022, while some centres, including those at Khordha, Ganjam, Sambalpur and Kandhamal, will be operational by the end of September.

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