The Ambassador of Japan to Nepal Masashi Ogawa signed a grant contract to provide Braille printers and ancillary equipment to the Nepal Association for the Welfare of the Blind (NAWB) in Kathmandu.

The contract was signed between the Embassy of Japan and the Chairman of NAWB Kumar Thapa. The Project for the Installation of Braille Printers for Visually Impaired Students in Nepal is funded under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP) of the Japanese Government. The total grant assistance is USD 82,257 (NPR approximately 8.4 million).

The project will support the installation of a set of high quality Braille printers. The NAWB prints Braille text books and distribute them annually to public schools all over Nepal. These books can enable blind or visually impaired students to study alongside other students.

NAWB, established in 1992, has been supporting visually impaired students by providing Braille text books, trainings and scholarships. Dr. Kamal Lamichhane, who has earned a doctoral degree from the University of Tokyo, was also a scholarship student from NAWB.

He has mastered both the Japanese and English language and now teaches different subjects, including disability studies and inclusive education, at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. Dr. Lamichhane, who had come to Nepal from Japan to attend the signing ceremony, attaches particular importance on inclusive education to support disabled students. The state-of-art Braille printers to be purchased by the project will increase both printing capacity and efficiency. Hence, text books relating to more subjects and for senior grade students can be printed and distributed.

“The Embassy of Japan hopes that the project will contribute towards enhancing the quality of, and increasing the possibilities for, visually impaired Nepalese children. The Embassy also hopes the assistance will contribute towards enhancing the bilateral relationship between Japan and Nepal,” said a press release issued by Embassy of Japan.