Honing music skills at Institute of Blind

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 22

Students of the Institute of Blind, on the occasion of its founder’s day, performed bhajan and kirtan with their mentor and music teacher guiding them. “Sound, they say, is their strength and so, we are trying to develop their skill through music,” says their teacher Samuel Masih.

The institute has more than 52 inmates and learning music is an essential part of their academic syllabus. Music is mandatory for every student here and everyday two hours are dedicated to their musical class. We have a proper functional music lab with equipment and these children excel in the field,” informs Ashok Sethi, president of the institute. “The school has a library with books on music in Braille. A special computer and printer for printing books and material in Braille for student’s discretion is also been kept. Their sensitivity towards sound makes them excellent learners,” he adds.

The school runs a residential education and skill-development programme for its inmates. The academic and vocational training is provided free of cost along with food and other facilities. “Sixteen of our students will be imparted training and a monthly stipend of Rs 2,500 has been fixed for students learning skill development courses. Also, we received donations from volunteers for our music training programme as it is one of our more popular and successful programmes,” said Sethi.

Some of their students have successfully found a career as religious singers, participated and own prizes in competitions and even toured with district level teams.