Akshaya Kumar Maitreya Heritage Museum launches Braille script

Siliguri: After the National Museum of India, for the first time, the Akshaya Kumar Maitreya Heritage Museum of University of North Bengal has introduced Braille script for the visually-impaired visitors so that they can learn about the ancient history and archeological references preserved in this museum. The university authorities have named the programme as ‘Anubhav’. Rathin Bandopadhyay, vice-chancellor of the university, inaugurated the Braille system on July 19.

He said: “Until now, this museum was an unknown place to the visually-impaired people. After the introduction of this Braille script, they will now be able to know about the museum, along with historical artifacts that are preserved here.” The museum started its journey in 1965 with two rooms of the history department. At that time, only students and researchers were allowed to enter the museum. Since 2006, the museum has been shifted to a different premise and is now open for all.

This museum has many valuable historical exhibits, including important artifacts from the North Bengal region. These have immense importance in research work. The university authorities feel that with the introduction of the Braille system, the visually-impaired can understand things on their own.

The curator of the museum, Malay Saha said: “Until now, the museum was not easily accessible to the visually-impaired. So this initiative has been taken mainly for them. Therefore, we have given the name ‘Anubhav,’ to the museum.”

This museum has more than 1,200 archaeological exhibits like mythological scripts, historic masks, statues. Since the day of inauguration, many visually-impaired students and teachers from blind schools have visited the museum.

Puja Roy, a student, said: “It was a really good experience to feel the ancient history. I thank the university for making such arrangements for us.”