Access to education is a basic necessity for living a good life in our society, but children with disabilities in general and visually impaired children in particular face manifold barriers to acquire basic education in India. A survey report states, only five per cent of the visually impaired children across the nation get some kind of primary education, though special education for these children has been available in the country for more than 110 years (Ref 1). In Orissa, it is estimated that around 0.8 – 1.1 per thousand children are blind. Fortunately, with some help from NGOs and government agencies, few special schools are now established, and children can obtain their primary/secondary education for free, although limited to towns and cities. However, higher education institutions are limited in numbers and available in select locations (mainly cities) and also not freely available to the seeking out children. Approximately 90% of children drop out after primary school education, therefore can not access higher education, vocational training or dream to pursue a livelihood of their choice due to unavailability of awareness, funds and facilities.
There is no single way to handle such social challenges. It is not easy as an individual to address these social issues, but with any initiative taken together, can make some impact on someone’s life. A small group of likeminded people have initiated this organisation to assist and support a small portion of those visually and economically challenged children for their self-sustenance. Moreover, we also support children to pursue their professional dream such as music or sports. We truly feel fortunate to get the scope and facilitate higher education for those needy children.