COIMBATORE: A ‘talking book library’ will come to the help of visually impaired students here since learning through Braille system is “difficult for them.”

 
The library, which will be called ‘Bharathi-Rotary Talking Book Library’, will be set up by the Bharathiar University (BU) with the support of a Rotary Club. It will be opened in a month at a private college in the city.

 
Speaking on the occasion of 199th birth anniversary of Louie Braille at Nirmala College, organised by the Association for the Rights of the Visually Challenged (ARVIC), the V-C Dr G Thiruvasagam said that there would be around 1,000 titles on various subjects, including fiction, apart from books to prepare for civil service examinations.

 
All the subjects will be kept in the form of audio cassettes and CDs.

 
Twenty tape recorders will also be available at the library. He said the varsity was also planning to develop a complete data on the differently abled persons in the district and would give it to the government.

 
Earlier, the V-C said almost 84 per cent of the differently-abled in the country, who will come around 90 million, have not yet benefited from the welfare schemes available to them because they do not have leaders.

 
“The development of a country depends on the contribution from each individual. And we need to utilise the best out of these people too,” he remarked.

 
The blind alone constitute 48 per cent among the 90 million who come under the `disabled’ category, he said, and added that only a meagre percentage of them benefit from education.

 
The V-C also said that according to a University Grants Commission report, only six percentage of the blind take up higher education. While exhorting to change the attitude towards the disabled at every level, he said education and improvements in the field of medicine will help the differently-abled improve their quality of life.

 
Principal Pauline Mary and president of the association R Sreenivasan were also present.