A vision that's noble both in letter and spirit

Scribes for examinees

 Spoorthy J, 10, regularly volunteers to write examinations as a scribe for visually impaired students in the city. She is one of the many youngsters who have helped hundreds of visually impaired students write academic and competitive examinations.

The ‘Volunteer For A Cause – Penpals’ (VFC) project helps visually impaired students find a helping hand in volunteers across age groups and backgrounds to pursue their academic dreams.

“Volunteers have helped write over 2,000 examinations for 300 visually impaired students in the last two years. Schools for the blind and organisations approach us seeking scribes for their students. We share the requirement in our network of volunteers and one of them writes the exam for the student,” said Savio Sequeira, the project coordinator.

“The scribes are youngsters and working professionals who even take a day off from work to write exams. About 70% of the examinations are written in Kannada while the rest are in English. Usually students from class 10, pre-university approach us for scribe requirements,” said Sequeira, who is also a HR professional.

Selfless cause

“In 2013, I volunteered to be a scribe for a student as the person who was supposed to write the exam did not turn up. After the exam, the student asked him how much he should pay me. I was shocked to know people charge for such a noble cause. It was then that I decided to start the Volunteer For A Cause – Penpals Penpals project,” said Surendran Nair, founding member of VFC.

“It is because of these volunteers I have been able to write my exams effortlessly. They have never stepped back from helping me in my time of need,” said P Lamare, a visually impaired student from Jyoti Nivas College.

“The volunteers are friendly and selfless. They help us understand questions that enables us to answer them properly,” said Latha Mani, a visually impaired student pursuing her Bachelors in Education from Vivekananda College.

“We have had volunteers from a 10-year-old kid to a 55-year-old woman. Students with disabilities also approach us to write examinations and we readily help,” said Sequeira.