For universities and libraries
We make your institution's documents accessible. PDFs, Word, EPUB, presentations, and scanned material come back tagged, alt-texted, and validated against PDF/UA-1, ready for screen readers, in 5 to 7 working days for standard documents and 10 for STEM. Institutional remediation is at non-commercial cost-only pricing. If you would rather build this in-house, the 12 to 18 month capacity-building partnership does that, with training and setup free. Either path maps to your duties under the RPwD Act 2016, UGC Accessibility Guidelines, NIRF, NAAC, and GIGW 3.0.
01 Why this matters
Document accessibility for higher education in India is not optional. The work maps to specific clauses in the regulatory frameworks your team already reports against, including the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, the UGC Accessibility Guidelines, NIRF, NAAC, and GIGW. The compliance map in the next section sets out the framework references.
Day to day, the students who need accessible documents are a broader group than is usually counted: students who are blind or have low vision and use screen readers and magnification, students with dyslexia and other specific learning disabilities who depend on text-to-speech and font controls, students with motor impairments who cannot turn pages or hold a textbook, and neurodivergent students who rely on clear heading structures and predictable layouts. Most of these students have learned to manage quietly, or have simply stopped trying to access certain materials.
For all of these students, a properly tagged document is the only viable format. The Accessible Documents Initiative provides the workflow that produces those documents at your institution's scale, on the timeline you need, and at a price that does not strain your budget.
02 Compliance map
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Section 16 makes accessible educational facilities a legal duty for every educational institution. Section 17 requires free learning materials for students with benchmark disabilities up to age 18. Section 32 mandates 5 percent reservation in higher education seats.
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Institutional websites, learning management systems, and course content must comply with WCAG 2.1 and work with screen readers. A Disability Liaison Officer is required at every institution. Annual compliance reports go to the UGC.
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Inclusive pedagogy with multiple modes of delivery is required at all levels of education. Accessible PDFs with alt text on figures support the screen-reader and listening-mode access this guideline calls for.
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The Outreach and Inclusivity parameter contributes 10 percent to the overall NIRF ranking. Facilities for differently-abled students, including accessible study material, carry 20 marks within it.
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Criterion 4 (Infrastructure and Learning Resources) assesses assistive technology, accessible websites, and soft copies of reading material. Criterion 7 (Institutional Values) assesses the inclusive environment for Divyangjan students.
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WCAG 2.1 Level AA is compulsory for all public digital services. Universities receiving central or state funding must ensure institutional websites and learning portals meet this standard.
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Every NAAC-accredited institution reports annually on differently-abled facilities through the Internal Quality Assurance Cell. Documents remediated with us, or by your in-house team after partnership handover, become evidence in that report.
03 How we make your documents accessible
Standard documents and STEM content follow different processing tracks, but both deliver the same outcome: documents that work with screen readers, braille displays, and assistive technology, validated against international standards.
Two processing tracks. Standard documents (notes, textbooks, forms, letters, scanned PDFs) go through automated tagging and batch processing using tools installed inside your own infrastructure. STEM content (textbooks with equations, lab manuals, research papers, complex data tables) goes through a specialised processing track with AI-powered tagging and specialist human review.
Every incoming document is analysed for type, language, complexity, and STEM content. This determines which track it follows. Scanned PDFs are processed through OCR with language-specific models covering all Indic scripts and over 100 languages, converting image-only PDFs into searchable text.
Automated tools analyse the document layout and apply accessibility tags: headings, paragraphs, lists, figures, tables, reading order. Document Format Templates built for your institution's specific document types dramatically improve accuracy at this stage.
Mathematical equations are extracted and converted to formats that screen readers and braille displays can render meaningfully. Every equation receives a plain-language description written by a trained specialist.
Trained accessibility specialists handle what automation cannot: image descriptions, equation alt text, complex table markup. Work is split by type so specialists work in parallel.
Every document is validated using industry-standard tools (veraPDF, PAC). A senior reviewer does a screen-reader spot-test before sign-off. A compliance certificate accompanies every delivery, in your chosen output format (tagged PDF, accessible Word, EPUB, or HTML with MathJax).
04 Two paths
Most institutions begin with one path and add the other after the first cycle. Neither one locks you in.
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Send batches through the portal. We process them and return accessible files with compliance certificates. Non-commercial cost-only pricing, with volume discounts for institutional batches. For institutions that cannot meet even these costs, tell us; we find a way.
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12 to 18 months to full in-house capability. We install tools inside your infrastructure, build Document Format Templates for your document families, train your staff alongside ours, and hand over the pipeline. Training and setup are free. Only travel and on-site logistics are charged at cost-recovery, waivable on need.
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Textbooks with equations, lab manuals, research papers, complex data tables. Specialised processing with AI-powered tagging and specialist human review. Activates when your institution onboards.
05 Partnership timeline
For institutions choosing the capacity-building path. Training is free; only travel and on-site logistics are charged at cost-recovery, waivable on need.
First batch of documents processed. Document Format Templates built for your top two to three document families. Staff briefed on what accessible documents look like. Letter of understanding signed, scope defined.
IT team learns to run the batch processing tools. Designated staff join training on batch action configurations, manual correction workflows, and veraPDF validation. Pilot batch of 50 to 100 documents processed together.
Routine document processing runs internally. The Accessible Documents Initiative handles STEM content and provides QA support. Document Format Templates refined from real usage data. Volume grows toward 5,000 pages per month.
Your institution produces accessible documents independently for most document types at 5,000 to 20,000 pages per month. The Accessible Documents Initiative remains available for overflow, complex batches, and the annual audit. The pipeline, and the knowledge, belongs entirely to you.
06 Training ecosystem
Training is delivered in-person at your campus, tailored to your document types and staff needs. No cost to your institution. Travel and accommodation support are at cost-recovery where applicable. Each programme aligns with internationally recognised document accessibility standards.
| # | Training component | Level | For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orientation and Sensitisation: Understanding Document Accessibility | Foundation | All staff |
| 2 | Creating Accessible Documents from Source (Word, PowerPoint, InDesign) | Foundation | Faculty, publication staff |
| 3 | PDF Remediation and Validation | Intermediate | Disability services, library staff |
| 4 | Accessible EPUB Development | Intermediate | Digital content teams |
| 5 | STEM Document Accessibility: Equations, Tables, Complex Layouts | Advanced | STEM faculty and staff |
| 6 | Easy Read Content Creation | Intermediate | Content teams, disability services |
| 7 | Setting Up an In-House Accessible Document Operation | Advanced | IT leads, disability services leads |
07 Pricing
Per-document remediation is offered at non-commercial cost-only pricing, with volume discounts for institutional batches. Specific quotes are shared in the onboarding call, calibrated to your document types, languages, volumes, and institutional needs. For institutions that cannot meet even these costs, tell us; we will find a way.
For the capacity-building partnership track, training itself is free. Pipeline setup, Document Format Template building, and the annual accessibility audit are all included at no charge. Only travel and on-site logistics for trainers are charged at cost-recovery when in-person sessions are held at your campus, and these too can be waived where an institution needs them waived.
There are no subscription fees, no per-seat licences, no bundled retainers, no surprise renewals. The Accessible Documents Initiative is mission-driven, not revenue-driven.
08 Partner with us
There is no commitment at this stage. We respond within three working days to talk through the options. You can request any combination of document remediation, in-house setup, STEM processing, or accessibility training; the form lets you pick more than one.
09 Questions
Per-document remediation is at non-commercial cost-only pricing, with volume discounts for institutional batches. The 12 to 18 month capacity-building partnership has no service fee at all. Training, setup, annual accessibility audit, and Document Format Template building are all included at no charge. The only additional cost in the partnership track is travel and on-site logistics for trainers when in-person sessions are held at your campus, and even these are waivable where an institution needs it waived. The Accessible Documents Initiative is mission-driven, not revenue-driven.
Yes. This programme is designed for institutions that do not have dedicated accessibility teams. You do not need existing expertise. A single staff member who completes the PDF Remediation training can manage a significant document workflow using the batch configurations and Document Format Templates we help you build. Start with document remediation, learn as you go, and build capability gradually. The 12 to 18 month timeline is designed for institutions building from scratch.
The processing tools install on a standard server running Windows or Linux. We configure the CLI and batch action JSON for your document types, run the first batch together with your IT staff present, and build Document Format Templates for your two to three most common document families. Your IT team runs subsequent batches. We remain available for questions and produce written documentation of every configuration decision, so the knowledge lives in your institution. STEM processing runs on dedicated infrastructure; we handle the deployment and train your senior reviewers to QA the output.
Routing is automatic. At intake, the system classifies each document and sends it to the appropriate track. Standard documents go through tools installed inside your own infrastructure. STEM content (documents with equations, complex layouts, high-volume institutional batches) goes through a specialised track with AI-powered tagging and specialist human review. Both tracks share the same OCR preprocessing, the same specialist review network, and the same validation output.
PDF/UA (ISO 14289) is the international standard for universally accessible PDF. It is verifiable. Tools like veraPDF check compliance algorithmically and produce a certificate. "Accessible" without a standard is a claim without evidence. Every document we produce meets PDF/UA-1 and WCAG 2.1 AA, and comes with a veraPDF compliance report.
Yes. Our OCR pipeline uses Tesseract 5 with language-specific models for all major Indic scripts (Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Urdu, Odia, Assamese). PaddleOCR provides a fallback for complex layouts. Community of Practice members with regional language proficiency handle quality review for these documents. Multilingual capability is a deliberate design priority; the Global South context requires it.
Documents are processed on our servers and deleted from active storage 180 days after delivery, or per your agreed institutional retention policy. Reviewers see only their assigned pages or elements; they cannot download the full document. No document content is shared with third parties except for specific API calls (Mathpix for equations). The letter of understanding signed before we process any documents specifies exactly what happens to your data.