ISLAMABAD: The first-ever Braille Book Corner named as ‘Gosha-e-Noor’ was inaugurated in a ceremony at the National Library of Pakistan (NLP) on Thursday, marking the birthday celebration week of Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille system for visually impaired people.
Advisor to Prime Minister on National History and Literary Heritage (NHLH) Irfan Siddiqui officially inaugurated the Braille Book Corner and interacted with the visually impaired students from the Al-Maktoom Special Education Center.
Addressing the ceremony Irfan Siddiqui said that, “Access to knowledge is the right of every human being and we will make all-out efforts to ensure the provision of this right to all the people, especially people with disabilities to protect them from any sense of deprivation.”
He said that any kind of disability cannot stop courageous and committed people from moving forward in their lives and achieving their goals.
“Fingers are usually known for writing but reading with the help of fingers is an additional ability of the visually impaired which we cannot find in the ordinary people,” said Siddiqui.
“The blind persons have been rendering their contributions in different fields of life however they must be provided maximum facilities and opportunities to acquire education and conduct research,” he asserted.
“For nearly 200 years, braille code has enabled people with vision impairments around the world to get an education and this Braille Book Corner is an effort to make a variety of books accessible to the visually impaired students,” he commented.
Siddiqui said that the availability of braille books at NLP will facilitate blind persons through catering their educational needs. He said initially more than 60 braille books including copies of the Holy Quran have been placed in this corner while the number of books will be increased gradually.
He said computers with latest relevant software and other necessary material will be placed in the corner by the end of this financial year. “It is very unfortunate that NLP was not given any funds for upgrading its facilities since the last three decades,” he lamented.
However in the current budget, an amount of Rs115 million has been allocated for NLP which is being utilised for digitization of rare books and the improvement of its facilities on modern lines, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, first blind journalist of Pakistan, Syed Sardar Ahmad Pirzada said that inauguration of Braille Book Corner in the month of January has a great relevance as Louis Braille who was a French educator and inventor of Braille was born in this month.
He thanked Advisor to Prime Minister Irfan Siddiqui for establishing the book corner for visually impaired persons and reviving the educational and literary departments under his supervision.
Student of Al-Makhtoom Special Education Center, Naeem Rashid, addressing the audience, thanked Irfan Siddiqui for establishing this reading facility for visually impaired students.
He said this facility will greatly help the students like him to acquire knowledge about different subjects.
Earlier, NHLH Joint Secretary Syed Junaid Akhlaq presented the welcoming address. NHLH Federal Secretary Engineer Aamir Hasan, NHLH Joint Secretary Abdul Majeed Niazi, National Book Foundation Managing Director Dr Inam ul Haq Javed, Pakistan Academy of Letters chairman, NLP Director Syed Ghayyur Hussain, National Language Promotion Department chairman (NLPD), Dr Jamal Nasir and others attended the ceremony.
