Bhubaneswar: To provide higher education to blind students, the State government is now searching 5 acres of land in Bhubaneswar or Cuttack for establishing a University for the visually impaired.
The Department of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities has asked Collectors of Khurda and Cuttack districts to allocate 5 acre land in their districts for establishment of the Santa Kabi Bhima Bhoi State University for Visually Impaired.
In a letter to Khurda Collector Chanchal Rana, Director of the Department Niyati Pattnaik said, “The Government has planned to establishes a premier university for promotion of higher academic excellence for visually impaired person in the name of Santha Kabi Bhima Bhoi State University for Visually impaired for which we are looking for at least 5 acres of land in a single patch in prime location of Bhubaneswar City, Khordha for construction of building and other infrastructure of the university.”
The Director has written a similar letter to Cuttack Collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde for the same purpose.
The single patch of land will be used for construction of the university building and other related infrastructure. The university will have residential facilities for the students and an advanced digital lab on the campus.
Named after Bhima Bhoi, a blind poet and 19th century social reformer, the university will have a centre of excellence on technology, besides schools for higher education.
Sources said the decision on setting up the university for visually impaired students was taken by the department in August last year and it had sent the proposal to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi for approval. It had then held discussions with officials of University of Tsukuba’s School for the visually impaired in Japan in this connection.
There are more than 50 lakh visually impaired people in the country of which over 5.21 lakh are from the State. Around two lakh youth in the state are visually impaired. There is, however, no data on the number of visually impaired students pursuing higher education in government-run colleges and universities.
Close to 2,000 students with disabilities had taken admission to either UG, PG or B Ed in the 2024-25 academic session.