Thiruvananthapuram: The federal government plans to spend 17 billion rupees to transform the National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH) in Kerala into the National University for Rehabilitation Sciences and Disability Studies.
Federal Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot announced this on November 28 at Thiruvananthapuram, capital of Kerala.
The proposed university will spend 3.9 billion rupees on infrastructure and operational components in the first five years. “The rest of the amount will be granted in the next phases which will span another five years,” the minister said, addressing a gathering at NISH.
Gehlot commended the state government’s initiative to build NISH that provides high quality services for the population with disabilities, twocircles.net reported.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked us to implement different yojanas or strategies for the differently abled people and we are working on these strategies,” he added.
The federal government’s aim is to have a country with people with no disabilities and if at all there are such people, the government will provide necessary support and education for them and equip them with instruments, devices and other facilities to help them fully included in the mainstream, he asserted.
The minister also said the government will also provide support for the blind with the Braille language books and equipment and teach sign language for the people with hearing and speech impairment.
The government will provide 600,000 rupees for each cochlear implant. “We have already done this implantation for 300 children, after which they were given the necessary therapy so that they could hear and speak gradually,” he added.
The university is projected to have more than 4,000 students by the time the full project is implemented.
These will be in two streams, higher education for those with disabilities and professionals who will work in the field of disability and rehabilitation.