President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday stressed the maximum use of technology to remove language-related barriers in education and make education more accessible to children with disabilities.
On the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, she awarded the National Awards for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities for 2021 and 2022 here.
Addressing the gathering, the president said that according to United Nations estimates, more than one billion people in the world are persons with disabilities. It means that almost every 8th person in the world has a disability in some form.
More than two percent of India’s population is disabled. Therefore, it becomes everyone’s responsibility to ensure that persons with disabilities can lead independent lives with dignity.
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“It is also our duty to ensure that they receive a good education, stay safe at home and in society, have the freedom to choose their career and have equal employment opportunities,” she said.
The president said that in Indian culture and tradition, disability has never been regarded as a barrier to acquiring knowledge and achieving excellence.
Divyangjan has often been seen to be endowed with divine qualities. There are countless examples in which our divyang brothers and sisters have achieved impressive achievements in many fields thanks to their indomitable courage, talent and determination. Given enough opportunities and the right environment, they can excel in any field,” she said.
She said that education is key to the empowerment of every individual, including those with disabilities.
“We must make maximum use of technology to remove language-related barriers in education and make education more accessible to children with disabilities,” she said.
She said she was pleased to see the conversion of NCERT textbooks for grades 1 to 6 into Indian Sign Language for hearing-impaired children completed. She said it is an important initiative to include hearing impaired students in the mainstream education process.
The president said the government is taking several steps to empower divyangjan.
She said that instilling self-confidence in divyangjan is very important to make them stronger.
“People with disabilities have talents and abilities just like normal people, and sometimes more than them. To make them self-reliant, it is only necessary to teach them self-confidence,” she said.
She urged all walks of life to motivate the divyangjan to become self-reliant and move forward in life. She said that when divyang people would make their effective contribution by joining the mainstream, the country would progress more quickly on the path of development.
The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment annually presents the National Awards for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities to individuals, institutions, organizations, state/district, etc. for their outstanding achievements and work is underway to empower people with disabilities.
The applications shortlisted by the screening committees were considered by the National Selection Committee at its November 2 meeting and recommended 25 award winners for the year 2021 and 29 award winners for 2022.
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