YMCA Madras launches IAS Academy for persons with disabilities
The academy in Chennai will provide sign language specialists and speech-to-text software to support students preparing for civil services examinations.
The YMCA Madras launched an IAS Academy in Chennai on Saturday to train persons with speech and hearing disabilities for civil services examinations. The academy will hold classes at the YMCA Building on NSC Bose Road.
According to The Hindu, the first batch includes 50 students, with 43 of them being speech and hearing impaired. For this year, the YMCA Madras has partnered with the St. Louis Institute for the Deaf and the Blind in Adyar.
Students will receive assistance from sign language specialists and use software that transcribes speech into text in real time. This initiative is part of the YMCA’s MY Institute project, which offers academic support, skill programmes, and cultural activities.
Inaugurating the academy, Madras High Court Justice P.T. Asha said civil servants act as a vital link between the government, the people, and the Union and States. She stated that an IAS officer's duty is to ensure government continuity regardless of the political party in power.
Former Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Irai Anbu advised students to follow a structured preparation, suggesting they dedicate 12 hours a day for 400 days to crack the examinations. Albert Fernando, chairperson of the MY Institute-IAS Academy, noted that 2011 Census and State Commissionerate for the Welfare of the Disabled records show significant numbers of persons with hearing and speech impairments in Tamil Nadu.
V. Nandakumar, Commissioner of Income Tax, and P. Asir Pandian, General Secretary and CEO of YMCA Madras, also spoke at the event.