REPORT OF THE UNIFORM BRAILE CODE COMMITTEE 1941

 REPORT OF THE UNIFORM BRAILLE
 CODE COMMITTEE OF THE CENTRAL
 ADVISORY BOARD OF EDUCATION,
 1941.

At the sixth meeting held in Madras in January 1941, the Central Advisory Board of Education considered the question of the adoption of a Uniform Braille Code in the schools for the blind throughout India. The Board while recognising the desirability of this and it practicable felt that the question was one which required examination by experts. It accordingly asked the Educational Commissioner with the Government of India to appoint a small Committee to go into the question and prepare a report for the Board at its next meeting. In consultation with the Provincial Governments, the Educational Commissioner set up a Committee to consider the question of a Uniform Braille Code with the following members: -

1. John Sargent, Esqr., M.A., C.I.E., Educational Commissioner with the Government of India,- Chairman.

2. Col. A. M. Dick, Irwin Hospital, New Delhi.

3. Lt.-Col. E. O.'G. Kirwan, C.I.E., I.M.S., Professor of Opthalmology, Medical College, Calcutta.

4. Mr. S. C. Roy, M.A., B.L., Lecturer, Calcutta University.

5. Mrs. Evelyn Roy, Hony. Recording Secretary, Lighthouse for the Blind, Calcutta.

6. Mr. A. K. Shah, Principal, Calcutta Blind School, Behala, Calcutta.

7. Rev. W. G. Speight, Principal and Manager, Schools for the Blind, Palamcottah.

8. Mr. R.M. Halder, M.Ed., Principal, Dadar School for the Blind, Bombay.

9. Mr. H. D. Chhatrapati, B.A. (late Principal, Victoria Memorial School for the Blind, Bombay), Ramchandra Mansion, Girgaum, Bombay.

10. Miss Georgina Bateman, Superintendent and Chief Teacher, Blind School, S. P. G. Mission, Ranchi.

11. Rao Saheb W. N. Wadegaonkar, Superintendent, Blind Boys' Institute, Nagpur.

12. Mr. P. M. Advani, M.A., B.Sc., Principal, School for the Blind, Karachi.

13. Mahamahopadhyaya Pandit Lachhmi Dhar, M.A., M.O.L., Shastri, St. Stephen's College, Delhi.

Dr, D. M. Sen, M.A., Ph.D. (London), Secretary, Central Advisory Board of Education, was Secretary of the Committee.

This Committee met in New Delhi on the, 17th and 18th November, 1941.

2. The Agenda and the other papers circulated with it to the members are set out in Annexures I and II respectively. In addition, Mr. P. M. Advani circulated his pamphlet, "A Uniform Braille Code for Indian Languages" to the members. A paper on the "Hindustani Uniform Braille" by Mr. Kalidas Bhattacharjee, Principal of the Lady Noyce School for the Deaf and Dumb, New Delhi, was placed on the table.

3. In opening the proceedings the Chairman welcomed the members to Delhi on behalf of the Chairman of the Central Advisory Board of Education. The referred briefly to the previous attempts to solve the problem referred to the Committee (ef., Annexure II) and while paying tribute to the pioneering work of those who have been responsible for evolving the seven codes at present in use in India, was strongly of opinion that the absence of a uniform code prevents effective co- ordination among institutions for the training of the blind in India, isolates the Indian blind to a considerable extent front file literature available in other parts of the world and raises economic obstacles against increased production of Braille literature in Indian languages. He, therefore, expressed the hope that the Committee on this occasion would be able to reach an agreed solution even if it meant, as it was bound to do, mutual concessions by the protagonists of existing codes.

4. The Committee while fully conscious of the practical difficulties in the way considered it an essential prerequisite to any comprehensive scheme for promoting the education and general welfare of the blind that there should be a Uniform Braille Code for all Indian languages, so that, as far as possible, each Braille sign should represent the same sound in all Indian languages. The printing of literature for the blind on a commercial scale would only be possible when such a code was in general use. The Committee also agreed to approach the problem, in the first instance, by laying down certain scientific Principles on which the uniform code should be based rather than by discussing the claims of existing codes to be accepted as the uniform code. The Committee then proceeded on to discuss the essential principles on which a uniform code should be based.

It was generally accepted as desirable that throughout their education the blind should be segregated as little as possible and that consequently the methods employed in teaching them should approximate closely to those used in the case of the sighted. The uniform code, therefore, must conform to the general lines followed in teaching normal children to read and write.

The Committee further agreed that though the education of blind children in India should he primarily through their own languages, there would be definite advantages in maintaining a close relationship with the Standard English Braille which has been adopted by so many other countries that it can claim to be regarded as the international code. It was accordingly decided that the original arrangement of the Braille signs in seven lines should be maintained in the code to be framed for Indian languages. Indian students would thus be familiar with the standard Braille system and in the event of their learning English or one of the other languages for which this code is used, they would at any rate be helped by familiarity with the sequence of dots or cells.

The Committee next considered the arrangement of letters in the proposed code. They felt that the determining factor should again be that of a scientific approach. The alphabet system of most of the Indian languages, unlike European languages, is based on phonetic principles and letters are grouped according to the phonetic affinity of the sounds they represent. Since the phonetic order has definite advantages compared with the non-phonetic, the traditional arrangement of alphabets ought to be retained so far as possible. The Committee recognised that this would mean generally the separation of vowels and consonants but

felt that it was essential to maintain as far as possible the scientific grouping of alphabets in Indian languages while adapting them to the Braille arrangement. Careful consideration was given to the argument that it would not be easy to meet the divergent needs of some of the languages in India within the rigid frame of the seven line arrangement while maintaining conformity with phonetic principles, but since certain modifications in the interest of securing uniformity bad often accepted as inevitable the Committee came to the conclusion that some re-adjustment in the traditional arrangements of alphabets of some languages would be necessary if this particular difficulty were to be overcome.

Proceeding upon their decision that the Uniform Braille Code applicable to all Indian languages should have as its basis the Standard English Braille, the Committee next decided that the first line consisting of ten signs of the Braille should be assigned to the ten vowels common to Indian languages and the next two and a half lines to the accepted grouping of consonants, and the remaining 28 signs to special letters, i.e., vowels and consonants, peculiar to one or more languages which cannot be accommodated elsewhere. In this connection the Committee realised the special difficulty which may arise in the case of languages of Perso-Arabic group, such as Urdu, Sindhi, and other related languages, but it was agreed that a solution could be found by some rearrangement of the letters of alphabets of these languages with due regard to phonetic considerations.

It was further decided that the phonetic relations between the letters of the alphabets should be represented as far as possible, within the decisions already reached, by some simple relation between the signs allotted to them.

It was also agreed that in order to economise the use of signs, a two-cell arrangement should as far as possible be avoided, and that sounds from different languages should be accommodated by assigning the same signs to different but related sounds.

Having thus defined the fundamental Principles on which the Uniform Braille Code should in their opinion be based, the Committee proceeded to consider whether any of the codes in current use would satisfy the conditions prescribed for an all-India Code. Opinion was general that none of the current codes fulfilled the Committee's requirements for a common code for all the languages of India but that it would be practicable to invent a new code, based upon the accepted principles which would satisfy all the reasonable needs of Indian languages.

5. The Committee felt that the possibility or the desirability of incorporating contractions and abbreviations in an all-India Code was a question which could appropriately be considered during the actual working out of an all-India Code.

6. The Committee next considered what machinery should be set up to prepare the code which they had in mind. They realised that in a matter of this kind any code formulated must be subject to revision during the initial stages in the light of experience gained from its actual use in different parts of the country. As the results of such experience must clearly receive expert scrutiny before any approach to finality can be achieved, the committee decided to recommend that a small Committee consisting of experts in the education of the blind, together with philologists with the requisite knowledge of Indian languages should be

appointed to work out a uniform code in the light of the principles already enunciated. It was considered desirable that any philologists, appointed on this expert Committee, should be familiar with the Braille signs.

The Committee was also of the opinion that it would help the proposed expert committee if members of the present committee would prepare independently a code based on the principles laid down and submit it for their consideration.

The Committee further expressed the hope that they would be given an opportunity to examine and comment on any code framed by the expert Committee whose appointments they have recommended.

Even after a Uniform Code has been formulated in accordance both with the principles and the methods which have been already outlined, the Committee felt that a Central Board of Reference would be required, to whom problems of general application could be submitted. Probably the expert committee entrusted with the framing of the Code would form a suitable nucleus for this purpose. The scope and personnel of such a body might alternatively be enlarged so that it could advise the Central Advisory Board on all questions affecting the education and training of blind persons.

7. The Committee next considered the steps which should be taken to ensure an adequate supply of suitable literature for institutions for the training of the blind in India. It was considered desirable that there should be a Central Press for embossing literature and a workshop for manufacturing special equipment for all the schools for the blind in India. Since, however, the Committee realised that owing to war conditions it may not be possible for the Government of India to undertake this liability in the near future, it was suggested that the possibility of utilizing one of the existing presses and workshops for the purpose should be explored. In addition to the central press and workshop there should also be a Central Library like those already existing in most western countries.

8. The Committee appreciated the fact that the adoption of a Uniform Braille Code by all the schools for the blind in India would throw a substantial financial liability on the managements of these schools, since they would be involved in the eventual replacement of their entire library of books embossed on old lines. With a view to enabling the authorities concerned to effect the necessity change within a reasonable period the Central as Well as Provincial Governments, should, in the opinion of the Committee, afford such financial assistance as may be required.

In the absence of any All-India body authorised to deal with the education of the blind the Committee felt that there were a few matters in this connection to which they might usefully call attention, even though they did not come within their terms of reference. Accurate statistics with regard to blind persons are essential before a Comprehensive scheme for their education can be prepared. The Committee regretted that it had not been found possible to include the enumeration of the blind in the Census, 1941.

It is recommended that the Board should call the attention of the Government of India to the desirability of taking a special census of blind persons in India as soon as possible. If this is not feasible statistics with regard to the sightless should be included in the next Census. It was that a uniform definition of the word "blind" should be adopted or India as a whole.

The Committee urged that the Central and Provincial Governments should promote in the general interest of the blind legislation on the lines of the Blind Persons Act in Great Britain. The Committee recognised the difficulty of persuading the ignorant parents of blind children to send them to school where the necessary facilities exist and the need for propaganda in this connection.

The Committee were generally in favour of the establishment of an All-India Association for the welfare of the Blind, which would hold meetings at regular intervals, although it was realised that the financing of such an organisation would present serious difficulties, particularly under existing circumstances.

Finally the Committee wished to place on record their conviction that the subject they bad had under consideration, like all other measures for ameliorating the condition of the blind, served only to emphasise the fundamental importance of the prevention of blindness in this country. Expert opinion holds that at least 50 per cent of the blindness in India is preventible. While valuable work in this connection is being done by a few voluntary agencies it stands to reason that coordinated efforts on a large scale will be needed if the problem is to be effectively tackled. Money spent on prevention is obviously much more useful and remunerative than that spent oil providing institutions for those whose Right might have been saved if precautions had been taken in time. The Committee hoped that it would be possible for the Central Advisory Board of Education to take up this matter in conjunction with Central Advisory Board, of Health, at an early date.

Main conclusions and recommendations.

I. That in order to promote the development of the education of the blind in a systematic and coordinated manner, it is essential to adopt a Uniform Braille Code for Indian languages as a whole, each Braille sign representing as far as possible the sound in all Indian languages.

II. That the Uniform Code proposed should be based on the following fundamental principles: -

(i) As far as practicable the blind should not be segregated from the sighted in the process of their education.

(ii) The original arrangement of the Braille signs in seven lines as in the Standard English Braille should be maintained in the code to be framed for Indian languages.

(iii) In the arrangement of alphabets in the code, the phonetic order of grouping in the Indian languages should, as far as practicable, be retained.

(iv) Phonetic relations between the letters of the alphabets should be represented, as far its possible, within the decision already reached, by settle simple rotation between the signs assigned to them.

(v) Two-cell arrangements should as far as possible be avoided and sounds front the different languages to accommodate by assigning the same signs to different but related sounds.

III. That none of the current codes can reasonably be accepted as satisfying the needs of a common code for all languages of India.

IV. That the question of incorporating contractions and abbreviations can only be taken up after the all-India Code has been formulated.

V. That the Central Advisory Board of Education should set up a small expert Committee, including linguists, who shall-

(i) work out a Uniform braille Code in accordance with the principles recommended in this report;

(ii) serve as a Central Board of Reference to whom any specific issues that may arise during the transitional period may be submitted;

(iii) form the members of an advisory body to the Central Advisory Board of Education on the education of the blind.

VI. To ensure adequate production of suitable literature for the blind, a Central Press with an up-to-date embossing plant and a workshop for manufacturing necessary educational apparatus should be established; and a Central Library to serve all the institutions in India should also be founded.

VII. That in order to enable the schools for the blind to adopt the new code and replace their existing stock of literature printed on old lines the Central and the Provincial Governments should provide such financial assistance as the circumstances may demand.

VIII. That for the execution of any planned programme of education in the interest of the blind accurate statistics are essential and the enumeration of the blind population should be taken up by the Government of India as early as possible, and at any rate not later than the next census.

IX. That the Central and Provincial Governments should be urged to promote legislation for the special benefit of blind persons.

X. That the Central Advisory Boards of Education and Health should jointly consider the problem of the prevention of blindness in this country at an early date.

(Sd.) JOHN SARGENT, (Chairman).

" A. M. DICK.

" E. O. G. KIRWAN.

" S. C. ROY.

REPORT OF THE UNIFORM BRAILLE CODE COMMITTEE OF THE CENTRAL ADVISORY BOARD OF EDUCATION, 1941.

Main conclusions and recommendations.