The duo IITians developed an education system to change the lives of the special children.
Melinda Gates rightly said, " Women speaking up for themselves and for those around them is the strongest force we have to change the world".
These words hold deeply true in the case of two young women, the products of IIT Bombay, Chandni Rajendran and Saloni Mehta. The two high spirited girls used their education as a channel to take the lives of the visually challenged a step ahead. The duo's imagination fabricated into a well-developed education system for the students with special needs.
TACTOPUS - a blessing to address the concrete needs.
Chandni laid the foundations for TACTOPUS in April 2018 along with her batchmate Saloni Mehta to give limbs to the crippled education of the blind.
Why TACTOPUS ?
Though India is home to one-third of the world's blind population, the educational necessities of the blind are not completely addressed. The existing Braille system is not completely inclusive. The visually impaired students often find it difficult to comprehend important concepts that involve understanding and decoding the images. Concepts like the Nitrogen cycle, most of the structural designing, etc. pose challenges to them as they do not get a wholesome picture of the concept. This lack of access to most of the concepts excludes these people from several fields of employment and livelihood. To address this problem, TACTOPUS emerged.
How is the problem addressed?
If vision, one of the five senses, doesn't aid, then the purpose can be achieved through other senses. The duo created images that are embossed and textured making it easier for the visually impaired to pursue them using their finger tips. These tactile graphics are further supported by audio to enhance the learning experience.
How are the modules prepared?
The modules in every learning chapter are not designed by fluke. After due research and interactions with blind children and adults along with teachers, parents, special educators and education policymakers the best content possible was developed.
Features of the TACTOPUS :
Inclusive and Barrier-free, Multi-sensory Development (Learning happens through stimulation of various senses). Audio Guidance. Every kid needs that special attention and an encouraging voice which is provided through the audio lessons. These are being extensively tested and improvised based on the needs of the learners.
What does the product include?
One of the most useful products - My Counting Book and Cards - an interactive activity book of numbers. The other What Makes You Special- introduction to the animal world through multi-sensory learning and Children’s Nursery Rhymes a deck of 8 cards each of which sings a different nursery rhyme. The geography books are pretty helpful too.
Many more are in the pipeline.
Although designed to cater to the needs of children with a vision loss, they could also be beneficial to children with learning difficulties and other developmental delays.
Thus, TACTOPUS, a giant leap over the existing technology, is a box of fortune gifted to the students with special needs. As it is rightly said that education is a powerful tool to change the world, these two IITians used their education and skills to touch the lives of a category of people.
Gifted are those who think out of the box and walk an extra mile to make lives finer. Click here to know more About TACTOPUS
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