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GENERAL EDUCATION
An attempt is made to give each blind child education up to tenth standard. The Blind Boys' Academy School Section got affiliated to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in January 1987 and the 18 th batch of 11 students appeared at the Madhyamik Pariksha in 2005. All of them passed in the first division with star marks. After completing the Madhyamik Course the students who are found sharp and keen on higher education, are encouraged to join the Ashrama Mahavidyalaya and other suitable institutions for Higher Secondary and Bachelor Degree Courses where they receive lessons along with their sighted peers. Bright students are also encouraged to go in for University education.
A good number of our blind students have so far secured the Master Degree. In all these cases, the Academy provides reading materials in Braille and tutorial guidance and similar other assistance as required.
VOCATIONAL MUSIC
While some knowledge of elementary music is compulsory for every blind child to acquire, those who have special talents for music are encouraged to specialize in it in order that they may later take up music as their profession. Our institution is affiliated to the Rabindra Bharati University for its Junior Diploma Course. The syllabus of the Prayag Sangeet Samaj is also followed for our students.
TRAINING IN HANDICRAFT
Training in handicrafts is compulsory for every student, not because it is intended to serve as a means of livelihood for him but because it helps him acquire skills in finger and hand dexterities, and neuromotor co-ordination, which may later, help him stand in good stead. The trades of handicrafts in which the blind students are trained are as follows:
a) Book-binding;
b) Cane, Coir, Bamboo and Plastic works.
INDUSTRIAL VOCATIONAL TRAINING
As the country is now being industrialized employment opportunities for the visually handicapped are to be found more in industry than elsewhere. Accordingly provisions have been made to train blind students suitably in handling lathe and similar power driven machines. We report with pleasure that a total number of 329 blind adults have been given employment in jobs entirely on merit and not on compassionate ground. 74 out of total 329 blind persons are self-employed. Initially it was started
as an investigation of training techniques to help rehabilitate blind people in industries and agriculture under Indian condition, follow-up and evaluation of the result of the resettlement and rehabilitation programme with help from the Government of USA. Pleased with the successes achieved by the project the Ministry of Social Welfare, Government of India has been sponsoring the venture under grant-in-aid programme since May 1976-77.
AGRICULTURE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY TRAINING AND RESETTLEMENT PROJECT
Majority of blind population in India comes from rural areas. It is therefore, desirable that they should be trained in rural vocations, particularly in agriculture, animal husbandry and other allied areas for their socio-economic resettlement in the society. Keeping this in mind the Academy started this Project in February 1973 to train up and resettle rural blind adults in the age group of 16 to 35.
Although it was an experimental Project initially, the results so far achieved bear testimony to the fact that the Project has been a very successful venture and so far 303 trainees have been trained till August 2004 and all of them 303 have already been resettled in their profession like poultry, goat, and cow-keeping, kitchen gardening and agriculture farming etc. in their home situation which may be called as self-employment. So far 8 (including one client received the National Award two times) resettled blind clients received the “National Award” and 30 received the “State Award” for their outstanding performance in rural vocations.
PLACEMENT AND REHABILITATION CELL
The Academy keeps constant touch with industries and employers and seeks jobs for trained blind boys in different industries. So far the Placement and Rehabilitation Cell of the Academy has gainfully placed 329 blind people including self-employment. Almost every year, since 1972 our trained and employed ex-students have been regular recipients of National and State Awards as most efficient handicapped employees of the year concerned.
SUB-CONTRACT WORKSHOP
Immediately after completing the training, employment is not available for anyone not to speak of blind persons. Again there are and there would be some workers who are laid off or retrenched from the jobs due to industrial unrest. They also need some engagement for earning their bread. But, finding alternative employment a difficult proposition for blind persons, Ramakrishna Mission Blind Boys' Academy started a Sub-contract workshop for blind workers in 1967. To meet the challenge due to unemployment of blind workers sub-contract jobs are taken from industries and are done by these blind workers on piece rates.
Now-a-days procurement of direct/open employment for the blind has become a difficult task on account of the acute problem of unemployment. To find other channels, the present self-employment venture has been started. Presently seventeen (17) blind workers have been engaged in training to learn making spice powder and Besan , operating heat sealing machines, drying, packing etc. as also to sell the products, and to create a market for running a small business of their own in future. On the other hand, they are producing Folding Sticks and stylus for the blind. Training in candle making and soap making has also been started for income generating self-employment.
BRAILLE LIBRARY
A library consistng of Braille books, a considerable number of which is hand transcribed has been set up and maintained for helping blind school and college goers, improving their general knowledge by issuing Braille books on loan. At the end of July 2005 the number of volumes in the library was 33,045 including 24,059 embossed volumes, 8,187 letter press and 799 talking books (in tapes, cassettes and discs).
REGIONAL BRAILLE PRESS
The Regional Braille Press was set up in 1967 at the Academy, thanks to the gift of machinery from the UNICEF through the Government of India. This press undertakes the embossing of books for the use of blind students in the Eastern and North Eastern Region of India. Usually the institutions for the blind and the State Government of this region place orders, and the books are embossed accordingly. Besides English, the Press embosses the books in Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Sanskrit and Manipuri. It has so far embossed 657 titles in 1,027 volumes with financial support from both, The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment,, Govt. of India, and the Ministry of Mass Education Extension, Government of West Bengal.
TRAINING OF TEACHERS
The Academy with its Training Institute for Teachers of the Visually Handicapped prepares teachers of institutions for the blind of the Eastern Region (i.e. Assam , Meghalaya, Arunachal, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Orissa, Tripura and West Bengal ). Presently the Teachers Training Institute runs a B.Ed. special education(visual Impairment) course for the Secondary Level Teachers of the Visually Handicapped. It is of 10 months' duration. The total intake in the year 2004-2005 was 20. Since its inception the Teachers' Training Centre has trained up 585 teachers many of whom are rendering services in different schools for the blind in various capacities as Principals, Superintendents and subject teachers etc. in different parts of the country. The course which is affiliated with the University of Calcutta is sponsored and financed by the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped, Dehradun, which is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India and it is approved by the Rehabilitation Council of India. The Training Centre has been working as study centre for B.Ed.(SEDE), PGPD(SEDE) and FC(SEDE) launched jointly by Madhya Pradesh Bhoj Open University and Rehabilitation Council of India.
TALKING BOOK STUDIO
We have one well-equipped Talking Book Studio for the benefit of our students. Talking Books are produced from this recording studio. The students of the Academy are the main beneficiaries. Students of other Institutions for the Visually Handicapped also can get books if they so desire.
SWIMMING POOL
Swimming is one of the less expensive but perhaps the best physical exercises that we can offer, especially to the blind whose physical activities are otherwise restricted. Swimming also cultivates in blind children self-confidence, which is very much essential for their all-round development. The Swimming Training Project, which came into existence in 1978, has become a great source of enthusiasm among blind youngsters.
COMPUTER TRAINING COURSE
The Ramakrishna Mission Blind Boys' Academy has started a Computer Training Course for the Visually Handicapped in collaboration with Amway Opportunity Foundation, New Delhi . Blind persons having knowledge of English up to at least H.S. standard are eligible to undergo this training. The training will help the visually handicapped not only to have basic concept about computer application but also to get easy access to Internet or Website for higher studies.
MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION TRAINING
Medical Transcription Training has been started for blind persons in collaboration with Transtek from April, 2005. At the moment six trainees of our Academy are undergoing this training. It is expected that this training will open a new vista of employment to the V.I.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
We are glad to announce that the Blind Boys' Academy was selected for receiving the National Award from the Government of India for its outstanding contribution to the welfare of the disabled persons in India in the year 1983. The President of India handed over to the Secretary of the Ashrama a citation and draft for Rupees one lakh on the 16 th April in New Delhi . The Blind Boys' Academy also received the RCI-Hong Kong Foundation International Award (Institutional) for its pioneering work in the field of the visually handicapped. Royal Netherlands Ambassador in India handed over to the Secretary of the Ashrama a memento and a cheque for rupees twenty five thousand on February 25, 1995 in New Delhi .
COMMUNITY BASED REHABILITSATION PROJECT
The Blind Boys' Academy started a unique project during 1993 called “Community Based Rehabilitation Project” with a view to rehabilitating all the categories of disabled persons in the village at Gosaba, Sundarban. So far 226 handicapped persons have been rehabilitated in their homestead in different vocations. The Project was extended from Gosaba to Kakdwip in 1999 and later on it was also extended for rehabilitating the downtrodden handicapped people of Rajapur-Karathberia villages, near Uluberia in the district of Howrah.