IT potential for Jaffna’s Kaithaddy Nuffield School for the Deaf and Blind

By Jekhan Arulliah 

I first came across Jaffna’s Kaithaddy Nuffield School for the Deaf and Blind back in 2015 at a Christmas carols concert at St. John’s College Jaffna. Several schools come to perform at this annual event. The Nuffield kids were one of the best choirs. I went to congratulate the school Principal who was at the time Vasuki Rajasingham. And so my first connection with the school was made.

Over the years I have been an occasional visitor to the school. Not that I did much, other than seeing the school and kids in action.

Then I got an opportunity with the donation of funds from New York based Synamon Global, to do something useful. 

My visits to the school have always showed a very happy set of kids. Happy kids who were not aware of their probably very bleak future once they left. Good opportunities for even the brightest deaf people, particularly in the North, are very scarce beyond labouring jobs.

The largest part of my career has been in the IT industry. Since coming to Jaffna in 2015 I am now involved as an advisor/mentor in many sectors (tourism, agriculture, SMEs, etc.), IT remains one of them. So I have friends on the ground who will support my initiatives.

Supported by Jaffna software companies Apptimus (Software development) and 3axislabs (Artificial Intelligence, AI), with that funding from New York based Synamon Global to equip a new IT laboratory, we have a project to open up professional ICT careers to the deaf and hearing impaired children at the Nuffield school in Jaffna.

My focus for the kids is on sectors where hearing is not a great issue.

nAI Prompt Engineering

nDigital Marketing

nSoftware Development

The IT laboratory is now fully equipped with 11 industry standard computers, air-conditioners, CCTV and thumbprint lock. Last week, 12 September 2025, my friend Prasanth Subendran (CEO 3AxisLabs) conducted a session with all the Nuffield teachers about AI and ChatGPT.

Five of the teachers volunteered to participate as leaders of the IT Club. All of them can hear, all can do sign language, one of them is blind. So far I have only done the introduction, so perhaps not all five will stay the course. This won’t be easy, it will take heroes to pick this up and run with it.

My connections in the IT sector will support me training these teachers who will lead the kids. Some of those connections I haven’t asked yet, but I will! Don’t disappoint me when I make contact!

I initiated the project at the school with the enthusiastic support of the former principal Amara Somasunderam who left end of 2024, and am continuing it with the current principal Sujieva Vithyashangar. With the invaluable support throughout of the school’s manager Rev. S.P. Nesakumar.

Will this work? I don’t know yet. It depends a whole lot on the enthusiasm and the aptitude of the teachers and of the children.

If this works as I hope it will, in a year the kids who stay with the club will be ready to do money earning work. Either employed in a company, or as independent freelancers when they are leaving the school. In my dreams, one of the kids will be CEO material and will setup their own company employing some from the school and some from outside.

In the attached pictures I include a few graphics done by me, me an aging amateur, using the FREE version of CHATGPT. 

I started with the random request to CHATGPT “Please draw me a picture of a crocodile having tea with a grandmother”, and then made adjustments (change the clothing to a sari, change the animal to an antelope). They took 10 minutes to do in total, mainly waiting on my imagination to come up with a new random request. If an aging amateur can do this in 10 minutes, what can these young kids do?

Not all the kids will make it. It will only be the kids who have the aptitude, determination and discipline and have the support of their determined teachers. But if they can do it, their futures can be very bright. The challenge has only just begun.

The hard work is only starting! When they are ready I will support them, advertising their services. I hope you will too, by buying them!