Mathru Project Proposal 2009-10 Pravin Shankar

Outline History New School Building Achievements in 2008 Future Plans Budget Proposal

Mathru School for the Blind: Timeline 2000 School started with first grade Rented premises and “kutcha” sheds. Goal: Add one grade per year. Be a 10 Grade High School by 2010 2002 Subsidised Civic Amenities Plot allotted By local government Appeals made for funds and services to local donors & individuals 2003  Appeal and plans sent to Asha CNJ for funds to construct a 10 room school 2004  Asha CNJ issues first grant for school construction ($17,000) Appeal made for local funds to construct dorms, kitchen, dining   room.  community and computer center. 2005 Construction started.. Started 5th grade Second Asha CNJ grant and WAH grant made ($18,000, $10,000) 2006 Construction completed. School moved to new premises. School named The Asha School in appreciation. ESlate successfully designed, built and tried out in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon Institute 2007 Strated 7th grade Application made to Central Government for grant to run school. When approved Grant will pay 70% of expenses.  Asha resources Time: 3 years, Money: $35,000, SiteVisits: 6+, resident volunteer for several months..

Building Construction (Site Visit – Pravin – Dec 2005)

“Asha” School (Site Visit – Pravin – May 2007)

More Pictures of the School Building

More Pictures of the School Building

Reception

Inside…

Inside…

Classrooms…

Classrooms…

Classrooms…

Playarea…

Playarea…

Braille Snakes & Ladders…

Library

Library

Computer Lab

Computer Lab

Computer Lab

Computer Lab

Kitchen & Dining Area

Kitchen & Dining Area

Kitchen & Dining Area

Dormitory

Dormitory

Achievements in 2008 ESlate - CMU Braille Printer – IFlex Recording Studio Vocational Training Center

Braille Easy to read but…

How Braille is Written

How Braille is Written

Braille Easy to read but… Difficult to Write Written in reverse, from right to left Children need to learn mirror images of all letters Delayed feedback Paper needs to be removed Longer time taken to identify mistakes

ESlate

ESlate Digital Stylus – Interfaced to Computer Text2Speech Speak Sentences to the student Student writes letters on stylus Provides immediate audio feedback Lessons and Exercises Video Demo: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~nidhi/brailletutor.html

ESlate – Current Status Was presented at the International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development, 15-16 December 2007 in Bangalore. (Sponsored by Microsoft, IEEE, ACM, IDRC) Mathru staff and students were invited to give a special demonstration of the Braille Tutor at the conference Field trial of ESlate2 at Mathru – May to Aug 2008 Partnership with Carnegie Mellon Technology Consulting in the Global Community program Microsoft Research India (MSRI)

Braille Printer Donated by IFlex Solutions, Bangalore Being used to print all textbooks and reading material Future plan: Have a library of books which will be made available to any visually challenged person in the area as a borrowing library Cost of a Braille blank: Rs 1.30

Braille Printer

Braille Printer

Vocational Training Center Planned to become operational in Summer 2008 Vocational training with residence for 20 students by Teachers (volunteers) 5 of the 20 will be Mathru personnel/students. 5 will be physically disabled and the remaining 10 will be selected from the visually challenged general populace The 20 will be selected by a qualified group of selectors. Subjects will be Screen Printing, Knitting, Book Binding, Plumbing and Electrics Mathru is already talking to potential employers Students will also be able to be self-employed Besides training in these fields, the students will have daily classes in Marketing, finance, computer skills, accounting

Budget Proposal – 2009-10 Needs money for annual Administrative Expenses For the year 2009/2010 they need Rs. 4,00,000 (between USD 8,000 and 8,500). Breakup of Budget* Educational Expenses Hostel Expenses Administrative Expenses * Detailed Breakup available in Proposal – Question 43

Questions?

Recording Studio Donated by Ashraya, NJ (http://ashraya-usa.org/ - Different from Ashraya Project of Asha CNJ!) A Mathru teacher has been trained to operate it Produce material that will be later made available to other visually challenged persons and institutions