HÀ NỘI — More than 3,500 out of one million plus visually impaired people in the country have accessed information technology (IT), which helps them improve their schooling, work and daily life.

Phạm Viết Thu, chairman of the Việt Nam Blind Association, said this at a conference in Hà Nội on Tuesday.

The conference, “Exchanging information and communications technology development solutions for the visually impaired”, aimed at connecting concerned domestic and international organisations to share experiences and methods to develop IT access for the blind.

Speaking at the conference, Thu said applying IT was one of the most important duties of the association in the past.

“Thanks to IT, many visually impaired youths have had the opportunity to study in high schools, colleges and universities as well as pursue post-graduation,” he said. “They have used IT to develop their profession and improve income as well as their physical and spiritual lives.”

Katsunori Ishikawa, a project consultant at the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), confirmed that IT played an important role in the lives of visually impaired people.

He said with the efforts of concerned organisations last year, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs approved a project to help the visually impaired get access to IT. The project was carried out by the Việt Nam Blind Association with assistance from JICA and Nippon Telesoft Company.

The project was implemented in March last year in Hà Nội and the central province of Thừa Thiên Huế and will run until August next year.

Under the project, dozens of computers with specialised software for the blind were installed. Training courses for IT teachers were organised with lecturers from Japan, China and Việt Nam.

The first course for trainees will be opened in Hà Nội on Thursday.

The project has a fund of more than US$942,900, of which Japan has contributed more than $890,200 as official development assistance. — VNS