Tech aid for visually-impaired candidate

MUMBAI: A Class 12 student from a junior college in Kandivli has received special permission from the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) to use a computer to write his higher secondary school (HSC) exam. Bhavya Shah, a science student from TP

Bhatia College, who has 100% visual impairment, will write his exam using a computer.

Shah would type his answers with help of a screen reader installed in a computer,which will read back the answers written . The board has provided him with a reader who is a Class 11 student, who will read the questions one by one to Shah before he writes his answers. The recorded answers would then be printed and a bar code would be put on the same after which it would go for assessment.

Sandeep Sangave, secretary, Mumbai divisional board, said, “We allowed the student to avail the facility after we got a request from the college. This would be better than getting a writer as he can write his own answers.”

Principal Sangeeta Srivastava of TP Bhatia College, said, “He is a very bright student and the way he writes is really good. In Class 10, he had appeared for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exam and had used the same facility.” Shah had scored 96.8% in his Class 10 exams, she added. In 2018, the MSBSHSE had allowed a student to write his exam on a computer as he had an issue with his sweat glands. In 2019, a girl with special needs was allowed to write her paper with the help of an ipad.