Eyesfreescience

About

Chakshumathi Assistive Technology Centre is a not for profit NGO who focus on technologically empower students with print disability to face the challenges in studies. Chakshumathi is the founder of eyes free science movement across the world.

Based in Thiruvananthapuram,Kerala Chakshumathi is a think tank in the area of inclusive education and a strong advocate to convert all special schools for the blind to integrated schools to enable the visually impaired students to live in the larger society from day one of their schooling.

Stepping the students to assistive technologies from the day one of their schooling will provide excellence and independence to their studies and work with greater accessibility and independence.

We are the one

Chakshumathi is the first agency to focus and popularise assistive technology in the State of Kerala. Started as a Daisy Resource Centre to popularise reading among the print disabled and produced numerous accessible books in the Malayalam Language, the agency slowly started narrowing their activities of blind empowerment to much focused area of quality meaningful effective education for the visually impaired students with focus on STEM education and inclusive education.

"It is easy to build stronger children than repair broken men"

Chakshumathi believe that “It is easy to build stronger children than repair broken men” and striving hard to reform the education standards and environment visually impaired students get in the country. Chakshumathi was inaugurated in June 2011, is a member of DAISY Forum of India and the nodal centre for BookShare International Accessible Library.

Our Trustees

The organization is currently headed by Prof. V.K. Damodaran, a former President of Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (Kerala Science Writers Forum) and is a renowned academician, institution builder and an internationally renowned energy consultant. Mr. Ram Kamal is the managing trustee along with Er. N.T.Nair, Dr. Pradeep Jyothi and Mr. Suresh Balaraman as trustees.

“It is easy to build stronger children than repair broken men”

Inaugural session of Chakshumathi in 2011.

Dr. Jayakrishnan, then Vice Chancellor of University of Kerala along with Professor V K Damodaran, Dipendra Manocha, President of Daisy Forum of India, Er. N.T. Nair and Mr. P P Mukundan lighting the lamp to mark the inauguration of the NGO.

Inaugural session of Chakshumathi’s Cochin office in 2012. In the photo Swami Sukhabodananda who
named the NGO with noble Sanskrit name Chakshumathi after the Vedic Chakshumathi Vidhya lighting the
lamp along with noted playback singers S P Balasubramaniom, Jaya Vijaya, patron Mr. P P Mukundan and Ram
Kamal.

Inaugural session of Chakshumathi’s Cochin office in 2011

lighting the lamp along with noted playback singers S P Balasubramaniom, Jaya Vijaya, patron Mr. P P Mukundan and Ram Kamal.

The organization is also engaged in the following activities:

Researching and collaborating with global research house to develop accessible science contents and tools.

Publication of textbooks, STEM education materials and other books for general reading in the DAISY / Epub standards.

Promoting Born Accessible publication and imparting training to publishers on Epub protocols.

Helping universities and centre of educations to convert their libraries to accessible libraries.

Organising workshops on assistive technologies for the Print disabled and visually impaired.

Researching and co-creating assistive technology products with various organisations around the world.

Supporting Braille to transform to the digital era to especially to support the needs of deaf blind community to study STEM subjects.

Creating policy documents and bills for the governments and authorities to reform education policies to implement inclusive education as per the Salamanca Inclusive Education Treaty.

Campaign and training programmes to increase awareness in the area of accessibility.