Poonamallee Blind School, Chennai (PBS)

The Poonamallee Blind School (also known as Victoria Memorial Blind School) is the oldest blind school in India, set up by the British rulers. The idea of a blind school was mooted by Eric Conran Smith in 1931. This school began functioning as Asia’s first High school for the blind. The school offers education to blind and visually impaired boy students from classes 1 to 12th following the Tamilnadu state government syllabus. The medium of education is Tamil and English is taught as a subject. The school is fully administered by the Government of Tamilnadu. There are 200 students studying here and most of the students who study here come from economically weaker section of the society. The school offers hostel facilities for the students.

In Apr 2021, Vision-Aid and PBS have entered into a MoU focused on improving the technical infrastructure at the school as well as providing skill development training programs. In May 2021, Vision-Aid supported the school by providing Smartphones to students of Class X1. The MoU also envisages providing skill development to students in the following areas:

• Basic Computer Education
• Spoken English Program at the Beginners Level
• Mobile Technology training