Chandigarh scientist honoured for sound contributions towards making STEM accessible to hearing-impaired students
Dr Alka Rao of the CSIR Institute of Microbial Technology was presented NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award 2023. She has been dedicated to fostering inclusive STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education for individuals with disabilities, particularly the deaf community, through comics, games, infographics, and simulations.
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Dr Alka Rao who has been presented NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award 2023 for her work aimed at ensuring education to the deaf persons. (Express photo/special arrangement) A principal scientist at a research institute of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Chandigarh, Dr Alka Rao has been honoured with the NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award 2023 for her contributions towards ensuring science education to the hearing impaired.
According to the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), Dr Rao of the CSIR Institute of Microbial Technology is dedicated to fostering inclusive STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education for individuals with disabilities, particularly the deaf community.
She leads the Indian Sign Language Enabled Virtual Laboratory (ISLEVL) – a project funded by the CSIR under the Jigyasa programme, creating digital educational resources for STEM subjects in accessible formats such as comics, games, infographics, and simulations.
NCPEDP’s trustee major general Ian Cardozo (retd) and secretary of central government’s department of empowerment of persons with disabilities Rajesh Aggarwal presented the award to Dr Rao in New Delhi on Thursday.
According to NCPEDP, the award is a tribute to honour those individuals who have been doing exemplary work in the field of promoting accessibility and universal design to ensure a life of equality and dignity for people with disabilities.
The trust was founded by Javed Abidi, regarded as the pioneer of the cross-disability movement in India, in 1996.
To offer higher education in science, technology and engineering to hearing-impaired students, a team led by Dr Alka Rao in 2022 had planned to prepare content that will help the students excel in areas that were out of their reach earlier.
The scientists planned to provide STEM vocabulary and content on a website in the form of images and logos for science, technology and engineering students.
According to the officials, the initiative is among the top 162 global innovations from 62 countries shortlisted through a peer review process under ZeroCall 24, a global initiative led by UNICEF.
Rajesh Aggarwal stated that projects like ISLEVL are the need of the hour while pointing out that access to STEM subjects is the biggest challenge in education of people with disabilities.
In April this year, an astronomy lab came up in Haryana’s Karnal to enable deaf students to learn about sun, moon and stars apart from simple to complex concepts of space.
Referring to the recent census, the officials maintain that the country has over 60 lakh hearing impaired people and over 600 schools dedicated to the community. They also referred to a 2021 report of the World Health Organization to point out that the global population of hearing-impaired people is increasing.
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