Right platform for special needs

Aravind Bhartiya has been concerned about the difficulty visually challenged students have in getting somebody to help them write their exams. Now, he has come up with a new portal that will help connect such differently-abled people with volunteers from their areas to assist them in their educational pursuits.

“It is almost like trying to find a perfect life partner,” says Bhartiya, trustee and CEO of Retina India. “When I was studying chartered accountancy, I saw first-hand the problems such students face in getting a scribe for their exams. And the tight eligibility criteria makes it even harder to find some one within a short time. So, often, students end up with scribes who are not competent and are unable to keep up with them at the exams.”
Now, the 41-year-old has launched www.seshpath.org, the first such portal where volunteers can register to help these visually challenged candidates and also other differently-abled students. Students seeking a scribe can also register at the portal.

According to the rules, a scribe (the name for a volunteer who writes the exam for such students) cannot be older than the student. Also, the writer cannot be from the same stream of the student, but should have some knowledge about the subject. Such rules make it difficult for the students to find appropriate scribes, thus missing their exams or losing crucial marks.

“Many blind students suffer because they do not find good writers or scribes. On the other hand, people wanting to volunteer do not know how to go about it.  This will save time in finding the right scribe, by bringing the student and the scribe on the same platform, making it easy for them to connect,’’ says Bhartiya.

Mumbai sheriff Indu Shahani was the first volunteer to register at the portal. Shahani, principal of HR College of Science and Commerce, has regularly drawn on students from her college to help the differently-abled.