BHUBANESWAR: Specially-abled people from across the State will be participating in an array of events on December 3 on the occasion of the International Day for Persons with Disability. The events, to be organised by Department of Social Security and Empowerment of PwDs (SSEPD), include ability marathon, exhibition, film festival on disability awareness, photography competition and cultural events.
Cash awards will also be given to specially-abled achievers in different fields and activists working in the sector. The State level awards will carry a cash prize of `25,000 in nine distinct categories. Total 11 physically challenged persons and PwD welfare activists will be awarded.
The film festival, dedicated to the cause of PwDs, will be the first of its kind in Odisha. The fest will be organised at INOX on December 1 with the screening of films like ‘Margarita with a Straw’, ‘Goonj’, ‘Goonga Pehelwan’ and a few others. Audio books and information education and communication (IEC) materials will be distributed to specially-abled students on the occasion.
‘A set of audio books from Science stream (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) will be given to beneficiaries studying in Plus Two,’’ Director, SSEPD Manasi Nimbhal said. Total 120 visually impaired students of Plus Three will be provided with job access with speech (JAWS) software-enabled laptops.
Government agencies and NGOs will set up stalls during the two-day exhibition on December 2 and 3 at Adivasi Ground in Unit I here. These organisations will showcase products, schemes and other activities pertaining to assistance and welfare of PwDs. A segment of the exhibition will display ‘Special Need Aids’ and equipment for specially-abled persons.
The ability marathon will be organised on December 3 in which PwDs, senior citizens, professional athletes, students and general public will participate. The marathon has been divided into three categories - one km run for the PwDs and senior citizens, five km for students, and 10 km run for athletes. The prize money for these three categories will be `25,000, `20,000 and `15,000 respectively.
Paralympians Giriraj Singh, Amit Kumar, Jaydeep, Rinku and Rampal will be joining the marathon in the City. Noted Bollywood singer Sona Mohapatra and Odia artists will also attend, Nimbhal added.
Work on 40 special schools from December
Bhubaneswar: Infrastructure upgradation and capacity building of 40 schools for PwDs in the State will commence from December first week. Of the 140 schools shortlisted by the State Government to be developed as special schools, 40 got the approval of the Finance Committee in the current financial year. The approval was given on recommendations of the SSEPD Department which has focused on districts where there is a shortage of schools for specially-abled students.
Director Manasi Nimbhal said the department gave priority to Nayagarh, Nabarangpur and Deogarh districts while shortlisting the special schools. Currently, 51 schools in 19 districts in the State are operating as special schools for the disabled children. Once work on the new set of schools gathers pace, the department will start assessment of the rest 100 schools for State Government grants. A survey was conducted to figure out dominance of any particular form of disability prevailing in these districts. The special schools will be made adaptable by conforming to the results of the survey. ‘’Suppose, there is prevalence of autism in a particular block in Nayagarh, the special school in that block will be modified for convenience of autistic students,’’ Nimbhal added.
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