This document provides a report on the operations of the Pune Blind School in India. It discusses the school's history, founding, facilities, programs, staff, activities, and financial aspects. Some key details include: - The school was founded in 1934 by Dr. Shankar Ramkrishna Machwe to provide education and training to blind children and adults. It aims to make them self-sufficient. - It has separate schools for blind boys and girls with over 150 residential students. Programs include academic education, vocational training, music, sports, and computer skills. - Infrastructure includes dormitories, classrooms, a library, workshop, and well-maintained grounds. Students are

1. A SOCIAL PROJECT REPORT ON “Study of Operations of a School for Blind”
SUBMITTED BY Sagar Ahire 8301 Dr Matin Raje 8308 Bhavna Kulshrestha 8302
Rahul Pawar 8335 Vikas Wale 8303 Sheetal Bhandare 8338 Girish Nerkar 8304
Sayena Hosseinmardi 8340 Sonal Wankhede 8305 Aditya Patankar 8342 Prafull
Kumawat 8307 Jagdish Kapure 8336 UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF Mr. Manish
Varma Faculty, PUMBA.
2. DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF PUNE
(PUMBA) * (2008-2010) * Index Sr. No. Topic Page No. 1 Introduction 1 2 Why this
Project? 1 3 Pune Blind School And Home for Blind – A Journey 2 4 Infrastructure 4 5
Operations 7 6 Human Resource 8 7 Internationaler Bund 10 8 Recent Activities 10 9
Financial Aspects 11 10 Suggestions 13 11 How can we help? 14 12 Road Ahead 15
3. Introduction India has misfortune of having the largest number of blind persons in
the world. Blindness is a disability, which one can overcome with proper training and
guidance. Persons affected by blindness need opportunities for quality education, skills,
training, rehabilitation, employment and a full social and family life. Causes of
Blindness: There are many things which cause blindness. Sometimes babies are born
blind, but most blind people become blind later on. Glaucoma, cataracts, and diabetic
retinopathy are the three most common causes of blindness today. Many older persons
lose their vision from macular degeneration. Some people become blind through
accidents. Why this Project: Person’s affected by blindness just need an opportunity.
Here's a list of some occupations in which blind people are working today, but there are
many more. Farmers, lawyers, secretaries, factory workers, drill press and lathe
operators, nurses, child care workers, social workers, computer programmers, insurance
salespeople, housewives, teachers, professors, telephone operators, counselors,
librarians, mid wife, aerobic instructor, HR Managers, Bankers, stockbrokers,
accountants, journalists, and many, many more. If you believe that they can do the job,
and if employer believes he can, there are very few jobs blind people cannot do. It is
most important for blind people to have the chance to choose whatever job they want,
and for the public to give blind people the opportunity.
4. Though this looks good, there is basic support, infrastructure, facilities, that are need
to be provided to these people, only then they will be able to work independently. For
this basic education i.e. education up to 10th is the most important and critical. Major
problems are faced by the Blind people are mainly in this age group. Once they are
guided properly then they can live normal life afterwards. This critical job of educating
them is done by Blind schools. So we decided to do our group social project in A Blind
School. We selected Pune Blind School in Koregaon Park, Pune. The organization
being an NGO, it’s very critical for them to manage the students, donations , finances,
disbursements of finances, procurements, staff, and all this in limited resources. The
main objective was to understand the management, operations, resources, finances and
overall working of the organization. PUNE BLIND SCHOOL AND HOME FOR

2. BLIND – A Journey With the motive of making the blind people self sufficient Late
Dr. Shankar Ramkrishna Machwe founded THE PUNE BLIND SCHOOL AND
HOME FOR BLIND on 28th February 1934. Being an ophthalmologist himself he
knew the importance of vision, and thus started the school to take the blind from
darkness towards light. It was a period when there were only a handful of schools for
blind through out the country. They had no connection with each other and operated as
they wished. Dr. Machwe traveled the entire country and paid visit to these schools to
understand how his own school for blind should be. People started understanding the
importance of such a noble cause and slowly the funds started coming in. On the back
of such donations the school which was earlier located in Somwar Peth was moved to a
5 acre campus in Koregaon Park. With prior experience of working with a blind school
in Mumbai he knew the needs of blind children and the methods needed to educate
them. He started gathering the essentials for running the school and thus started the
school.
5. Only blind boys were admitted to this school but what about blind women and girls?
Keeping this in mind even blind girls were admitted in the same school. With the dream
of running separate blind schools for both girls and boys the foundation stone was laid
by the first President of India Dr. Rajendra Preasad on 5th November 1959 for a blind
school for girls. Dr. Machwe left this world on 21st November 1969. From here on the
operations of the schools were looked at by his daughter Late Mrs. Mangala Desai.
With the aim of making the blind girls self sufficient a training centre for them was
started on 1st January 1979. The state government after understanding the importance
of such a cause started giving grants to schools and this helping hand is still there for
support. The girls learn the art of candle making, jewellary making, weaving and
stitching. The schools also provide computer training to its students. This is the only
school of its kind in the entire state and its celebrating its 75 years in existence this
year. The students graduating from these two institutes have made a name for
themselves in various walks of life and are self sufficient. They are taking part in
various competitions and are leaving behind even children without and visual imparity.
Such has been the success of the children of these two schools that they have entered
even the Guinness Book of World Records. The institute has won many awards at
national level. Variety of Training Imparted at the School • Free Academic education
from Nursery to S.S.C. • Training in Vocal and Instrumental Music upto Visharad. •
Training in Handicrafts. • Training in Various Vocation like Candle Making, Chalk
Making, Handloom Weaving, Massage and Computer typing. • Home Science unit. •
Co-curricular activities like Scout & participating with Sighted children in Essay and
Elocution competition. • Library with Sighted and Braille books and Audio cassettes.
There is one Music School and Workshop where students can learn different
instruments. They have also formed their own Music Orchestra There are 3
dormitories. Each one has around 15-17 two floor Box Beds occupying 30-34 students.
Cupboards for each student. There is TV in each room for entertainment. Each student

3. gets toothpaste, Hair Oil, Soap, Books, Stationary, and Cloths….etc. free of cost. The
Training Centre for the Teachers of the Blind School at Koregaon Park, Pune. The
Inner Infrastructure of Pune Blind School: Nursery for the Blind babies Well
Equipped Training Centre for Blind Women at Kothrud with 50 Blind and other
Handicapped Women. The Blind Girls School also on 5 acres in Kothrud having its
own specious Building accommodating 98 girls. The Blind Boys School on 5 Acres.
Currently there are124 residential boys and 16 day scholars. The 16 day scholars are the
students from nearby area and they stays at their home at night and in daytime at
school. 6. • Well maintained Garden and Park. • Training in Yoga, Sports and
Swimming. • Massage facility provided at your doorstep. Infrastructure: The
Infrastructure of Blind School was sufficient enough for students to take care their daily
activities. Overall infrastructure includes following:
Co-Curricular activities like Scout Home science Unit. Training in various
Vocation like Candle Making, Chalk Making, Handloom Weaving, Message, Computer
typing. Training in Handicrafts. Training in Vocal and Instrumental Music upto
Visharad. Free academic education from Nursery to S.S.C. Free Boarding,
Lodging, Medical Aid. Also they enjoy in-house games like Carrom and Chess.
Following is the list of facilities provided to them: They also enjoy playing cricket at
the ground at their hostel premises. They are provided with different type of Bats and
Balls specially made for blinds. The students take basic education of class 1st to class
4th from The Pune Blind School. They take education from class 5th to class 7th at
Kasturaba Gandhi Vidyalay, Koregaon Park. Then next education of class 8th to class
10th at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Secondary School, Yerwada. For these two
schools they go by School Bus provided by Pune Blind School. There is one Braille
Library for students. There is one Typing Classroom where students learn type
writing. There is also one computer room for students which is donated by Cybage
Softwares pvt. ltd. The computer room consists of 18 computers. 7. & Well
Maintained Garden Library with Sighted and Braille Books and Audio Cassettes.
participating with Sighted Children in Essay and Elocution Competition. & Park.
Training in Yoga, sports, Swimming. Dormitory Braille Book Modified Cycle 8.
9. Handicrafts & Handlooms Made by Students Operations: The school is very well
managed and operated with limited resources of both staff and other materials
inventories required for day to day activities and facilities provided for the students.
Daily Schedule: Daily schedule for all the students is fixed as it eases the operations
and maintains discipline. It also helps the staff of 29 to control such a group of 155
students. Functional Division: For the operational ease the students are mainly divided
in two categories. • 1st – 4th Std.: These students study in the same building and they
study in Brail Language. They are provided with a servant who takes care of them right
from bath in the morning till night. They are given accommodation in a single hall with
proper care taker. • 5th – 10th Std.:

4. 10. These students are provided with all facilities. No care taker is provided as they are
supposed to become self sufficient in every thing they do as they grow up. They are
provided with breakfast, lunch, dinner and separate beds to sleep. They go into normal
schools and learn with normal students. A writer is provided for giving final
examinations. A bus facility is provided for the students which drop them to their
respective schools and pick them up. Facilities Provided: Every student is provided
with following facilities. • Food: Breakfast, Milk, Lunch & Dinner. • Residential
Facilities: Bed, Lockers, daily consumables, etc • Educational Facilities: Brail Books,
Radio, Tape recorder, • Commercial Education: Chalk Making, Teaching Musical
Instruments, Canework, Singing Classes, etc • Entertainment: Radio, Television,
Library, Audio Cassettes, CD’s, Games like Chess for Blind, Singing balls, Mecano,
Sea- Saw, etc Materials: Materials required are taken from two sources. • Local
Merchant: Materials required for daily activities are procured from a local shop as per
requirement. • Donations: Materials are taken in the form of donations. They are
accepted only in the form of dry ration and not in ready to eat form. This is very good
as it takes care of quality of food and eliminates risks involved in taking cooked/ ready
to eat food as a donation. Human Resource: The gentle, soft-spoken principal of this
school Chadrakant Vaman Bhosale is himself visually impaired. He is also an alumnus
of this school. He says that the mission of their school is to provide their students with
the skill sets to enable them to live their lives in the sighted world From Class 1 to 4,
the children are taught Braille on campus. From Class 5 until Class 10, the students go
to regular schools. Regular schools have resource teachers to help
11. these kids; for the ones that don’t, the Trust tries to help out by providing writers for
the children The school accepts students between the ages 4 and 10, and the students
may stay until they are 18, or they finish their 10th, which ever is sooner. The children
are taught to be comfortable with their disability. The school also teaches the children
music, both vocal and instrumental, caning of chairs and even computers Employees: •
Teaching staff: 10 • Non-teaching staff-17 • Other employees-5 Qualifications of
Teachers: Person should have “Blind Teacher Diploma” degree and as per government
regulation. The various activities include Craft, Music, Sports, Physical Education, &
Shirdi Sai Baba Nursery. Teachers are available to teach all these activities. From 2003
computer education was started. Computer skills are taught to the student from 3rd
standard onward up to 10th standard. Teacher Training programme: The organisation
has started Teacher Training programme in 1990. It has received recognition from
Rehabilitation Council of India, New Delhi. There was a great demand for the teacher
Training Centre as there was not a centre in Maharashtra. So organisation started the
Teacher Training Centre in Pune for Maharashtra. Up till now it has trained nearly 200
teachers. Volunteers:
12. The Poona School & Home for Blind Trust recognizes that contribution of time and
talent are just as important as financial contribution. Therefore encourages volunteers to
contribute their time for it. Internationaler Bund: During our visit, we came across a

5. group of German young people in the school. We talked to them out of curiosity that
what they are doing there. Reply was they are here for a period of 1 year as apart of
social project in their curriculum. They came here via a German NGO Internationaler
Bund which has contacts with Pune Blind School. It is group of 8 people consisting of 4
boys and 4 girls. Boys work in School in Koregaon Park and Girls work in School for
Blind girls in Kothrud. They do following activities: • Spend their entire day time in the
school with the children. • Take English and Computer teaching classes for the
students. No compensation is given to them as it’s voluntary. • Counseling the students.
• Conducting various games for the students as a part of personality development.
13. The activists are not given any compensation as it is a social activity but their day to
day living expenses are bourn by German NGO. Recent Activities: The Poona Blind
School does not only provide formal education to the students but along with this it also
imparts vocational training in jewellery making, stitching etc. to the blind students.
Apart from these traditional courses, one unique course has been recently initiated for
the visually challenged girls, women; they are trained in the art of massage by a trained
doctor. They are given guidelines about the standard of hygiene to be maintained. They
are also taught the use of different kinds of oils and creams and their benefits. Since the
massage institute is dependent on the NGO, financial institutions such as Bank of
Maharashtra and State Bank of India are coming forward to fund some amount. Thus a
group of trained female masseurs now run a massage center set up in the serene
localities of Kothrud. They offer Swedish massage to female clients only at very
affordable prices. The school has provided these girls the necessary infrastructure such
as hot water geysers, perfumes for aroma therapy, and different types of oils, powders
and related cosmetics. Going a step ahead the institute provides them with cell phones
as well which helps them to reach the client’s place for a massage appointment. The
school is soon about to launch a diploma course with Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth
(TMV) in massage for the girls, which will include three months of practical training
and three months of theoretical education. TMV will arrange lectures on aroma therapy
and physiology of the body. The students will also be taught Thai and Chinese
massages and will be awarded formal diploma certificates. This will be helpful to the
girls to find jobs at beauty parlors, five star hotels and massage centers. They also plan
advance courses in ayurvedic courses as well. The fashion show titled “Small
Wonders” was organized by Career Forum Fashion Academy over the weekend. All the
outfits worn by the kids were designed by the academy’s students on the national flags
of different countries. But the highlight of
14. the show was the seven visually impaired kids from the Poona School and Home
for the Blind Trust who walked the ramp. This school has formulated various schemes
for the disabled students and it will soon start 50 centers for the guidance of the
disabled people. These schemes include providing railway passes, ST bus passes,
handicap certificate, airplane pass, self employment, marriage bureau, etc. Financial
Aspects: Sources of Funds: The Blind Boys School gets funding from the government

6. of Maharashtra and Donations received by The Poona School & Home for The Blind
which has been registered as Charitable trust under the Charitable Trust Act. There are
155 residential students in the school and 17 day scholars.There are 31 employees. The
sources and applications of the funds can be summarized as follows- Funds from the
government- Department of Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra grants aid to
the school for 100 students only and aid given is as follows- Sr. No. Particulars Amount
(Rs.) 1 Aid per student-Rs 630/-per student 63000 per month for 100 students 2 Salary
expenses of 31 employees 100%( amount not revealed) 3 60% of total rent of school
(Total 43813 Rent Per month= Rs.73022/- In addition to the above aid, Social Welfare
Department of Government of Maharashtra also gives partial aid for the miscellaneous
expenses like stationary.
15. Funds from Public and Corporate: School receives the donations from the Public
and to some extent from the corporate. Donations received by the trust from people and
corporate per month are 2.5 to 3 lacs Some examples of corporate help to school- •
Developing the Computer centre with help from Cybage Pvt.Ltd. • Help to develop
school garden by IBM • On an average 10 to 15 meals per month are sponsored by
people or corporate. School accepts Rs.1800/- per meal and prepares the food itself.
Expenses incurred by school: • The expenses incurred by the Poona Blind School are
Rs1200 per student per month. • In addition to this, Rs 73022/- are paid as rent for the
School Building. • The school also has the rehabilitation Fund to help the students
having ability and willingness to start their own venture. It provides aid to the extent of
Rs. 25000/- per student. The balanced amount if any is deposited with the trust.
Similarly the additional requirements if any are fulfilled by the trust. Currently School
has the adequate fundings and support available and hence it want to implement some
new ideas which are listed below- • Expansion of the Braille Library & audio Cassette
Section by having sound proof room for recording. • Gymnasium cum Recreation Hall.
• To start a massage centre in Boys school to impart training. Suggestions: We could
summarize some of the problems, future requirements and would like to make some
suggestions
16. These are the current requirements of the school • Typing tutors needed for high
school girls & boys • Computer teachers • During exams there is a special need for
writers There are already some programmes which are helpful for students to gain self
employment skills. But as Principal Bhosale sir rightly said, “We want to be with the
society and mainstream”. So, we would like to suggest - • Starting call centre training
programme for students for imparting self- employment skills in the changing industrial
environment. • Computer courses that fulfills need of industry. Some suggestions
regarding improvement in systems are • Enable the payment of donations by providing
e-payment option. • To encourage Computer education in girls school. • To organize
community programs by blind students so as to serve two purposes – o Develop self
confidence among the students o Create a sense of responsibility towards the students
by the community. • Initiate career counseling sessions to guide the students to help

7. them have a better and independent future. How can we help…? Financial Support:
Support in monetary form, donations of consumables, foods, books, games, musical
instruments, clothes. The donations can be used for various facilities like… • Expansion
of the Braille library and Audio cassette section by having Sound proof room for
Recording. • Toys for Nursery babies like Dolls, Stuffed animals, Doll house, etc.
17. • Equipment for the Nursery like small cots, chairs, desks, washing machines,
fridge, etc. • Gymnasium cum recreation hall. • Eye hospital for the prevention of
blindness. • To start a massage centre in boys school. • To develop computer lab in
Girls school. • Braille printer for our Girls school. Active Volunteering: You can
actually go there and do work voluntarily like teaching, counseling, entertainment,
mentoring, organizing picnics, helping in day to day working activities, etc. Donate
your eyes: Awareness about Eye Donation can be increased through various mediums
like through schools, offices, and other social groups. The internet can also be an
effective medium. Many of the students have corneal opacities due to which they are
totally or partially unable to see. Here one procedure can change their life drastically. It
is called corneal transplant. For this eye donation is the prerequisite. In India the
concept is in the nascent stage and awareness is low. Even if aware many do not go for
donating corneas due to various reasons ranging from traditions to misconceptions
about the procedure. The miniscule who have registered for corneal donation are
converted into actual donors because of the overburdened healthcare system of the
country. Not all of them are reached in the prescribed time frame necessary for the
removal of cornea from the cadaver. If we want to overcome this problem we will have
to increase the registrations done for Cornea donation manifold. Only then we can help
the people with corneal opacities to gain vision and enjoy what we all can. The Road
Ahead Even though today both these institutes are recognized they face their own
problems like shortage of teaching staff for various arts which are a source of living for
these blind children.
18. The schools need centers for production so that they can find employment at the
institute itself. Making laws for blind people isn’t sufficient but knowing whether they
are implemented or not is necessary. The institute aims at opening a hospital for blind
as the state and Pune district in articular has a high number of blind people. The society
must understand the importance of eye donation. Even though the institute admits a
large number of blind children its not enough as still a large number is left behind. For
this new building and training institute are required and this is possible only through
donation. Thanks for reading.