YMCA Madras launches IAS Academy for persons with hearing and speech disabilities

YMCA Madras on Saturday launched an IAS Academy aimed at training persons with speech and hearing disabilities to face civil services examinations.

Classes will be conducted at the YMCA Building on NSC Bose Road. The first batch will have 50 students, 43 of whom are speech and hearing impaired. For this year, YMCA Madras has tied up with St. Louis Institute for the Deaf and the Blind in Adyar. In the classroom, students will have support in the form of sign language specialists and a software that transcribes speech to text in real time. The initiative is part of YMCA’s MY Institute project that provides academic support, skill programmes, and sports and cultural activities for students.

Inaugurating the academy, Justice P.T. Asha of the Madras High Court, said civil servants form the backbone of a government and the link between the Union and the States, the people, and the government. “The duty of an IAS officer is to ensure continuity in functioning of the government irrespective of the party in power,” she said, adding they are tasked with formulating and implementing policies.

Irai Anbu, former Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, offered tips to the students for the UPSC examinations. He said their preparation should be structured and they should dedicate 12 hours a day for 400 days if they are to crack the civil services examinations.

Albert Fernando, chairperson, MY Institute-IAS Academy, said that according to the 2011 Census and records available with the State Commissionerate for the Welfare of the Disabled, there were about 2,20,024 persons with hearing impairment, 80,077 persons with speech impairment, and 92,796 with both disabilities in Tamil Nadu.

V. Nandakumar, Commissioner of Income Tax, and P. Asir Pandian, General Secretary and CEO, YMCA Madras, also spoke.

Published - November 15, 2026 05:30 am IST