Inspired by the visionary thought of Louis Braille – In darkness, the strength of Braille brings a ray of light – the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities (NIEPVD), Dehradun, celebrated World Braille Day on 04 January 2025, on the occasion of his 216th birth anniversary.
On the occasion of World Braille Day 2025, the Chief Guest, Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) released the book ‘Standard Bharati Braille Codes’ – a comprehensive guide to standardized Braille Unicodes in India.
- The book ‘Standard Bharati Braille Codes’ symbolizes a significant step towards promoting accessibility and empowerment for persons with visual disabilities. It redefines the development and utility of Braille by offering a comprehensive guide to standardized Braille unicodes in India.
World Braille Day 2025 Theme:
The theme for World Braille Day 2025 was ‘Celebrating Accessibility and Inclusion for the Visually Impaired‘.
Significance:
World Braille Day is observed to raise awareness of the importance of Braille as a means of communication in the full realization of the human rights for blind and partially sighted people.
Background:
World Braille Day, observed on January 4th, commemorates the birthday of Louis Braille, the visionary who developed a tactile script that revolutionized communication for blind and partially sighted individuals.
- The day highlights the significance of Braille in empowering visually impaired individuals to access education, information, and opportunities, fostering their full participation in society.
- The United Nations recognised the day for the first time in 2019.
What is Braille?
Braille is a tactile representation of alphabetic and numerical symbols using six dots to represent each letter and number, and even musical, mathematical and scientific symbols.
- Braille (named after its inventor in 19th century France, Louis Braille) is used by blind and partially sighted people to read the same books and periodicals as those printed in a visual font.
- At the age of 15, Louis Braille invented the system of Braille using raised dots.
- At age 20, he published the first Braille book titled Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them.
Some of the Important Initiatives for the Empowerment of Visually Impaired Persons in India:
» According to the 2011 Census, there are 50,32,463 persons with visual impairment in India.
» The National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Impairment (NIEPVD) (Divyangjan) is working in the field of visual disability for the education, training, rehabilitation & empowerment of persons with visual impairment since 1943.
- During the period 2023-24, 2,94,388 persons (New Cases, Follow-up & Supportive Services) were benefitted through different services/programmes under the institute.
- NIEPVD is also hosting a National Accessible Library to provide learning materials in various accessible formats Braille, large print, audio and E-pub to persons with visual impairment. The Library serves over 55,000 members and houses approximately 1,58,901 Braille volumes, 20,784 print books and more than 7100 audio titles. In addition, the Institute is also hosting an Online Braille Library- Sugamya Pustkalaya having 6,79,120 titles.
» The Braille Development Unit is an important constituent of the Department of Special Education and Research. It contributed to the development of Braille Codes in different Indian languages.
» The Model School for the Visually Handicapped (MSVH) is imparting education to children with visual impairment from the Bal Vatika to senior secondary level, representing a broad spectrum of society.
- Apart from providing free education, boarding & lodging, uniforms, books and equipment, the school offers a modicum of plus curriculum activities for all-round development of its students.
- During the year 2023-24, Model school has provided education to 243 children with visual impairment.