Blind Society aims to facilitate CXC Mathematics

Jun 30, 2015 News

– as empowerment strides are expanded
Mathematics is likely to soon be among the subjects offered to the Caribbean Secondary Education Certification

Ganesh Singh, Coordinator of the Blind Society CXC Programme

(CSEC) candidates registered by the Guyana Society for the Blind. This is according to Project Coordinator of the CXC programme, Ganesh Singh, who pointed out that because of the visual limitations of students together with limited resources, Mathematics has not been a subject that students could have opted for.
Among the subjects required for the ideal matriculation of students is Mathematics and English. However, the visually impaired/blind students, who registered through the Society since the start of the programme in 2013, have only been eligible to write English, Social Studies, Human and Social Biology, Office Administration and Principles of Business.
“It is difficult to deliver the Mathematics syllabus to them presently because of the visual challenge but hopefully we can eventually do it in the near future,” said Singh during an interview with this publication.
Although the administrators of the Society have not yet met with Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine to discuss plans to offer Mathematics, Singh intimated that “I am sure he will be receptive to us.”
“The Ministry of Education has always been very supportive…I can tell you that the relationship that we have with staff like the Chief Planning Officer, the Permanent Secretary, Human Resource Manager, Head of Exams Division, is very good…even with the lower level staff to get things done quickly. I must complement them and express my gratitude,” Singh noted.
Even as a meeting with the Minister is being planned, Singh said that already the Society has been doing its own research and consulting on the way forward with regards to Mathematics.

Some of the CXC students of the Blind Society.

“We know that it is possible,” assured Singh as he disclosed his findings that Mathematics is already offered to visually impaired/blind students in some CXC territories using Braille.
Braille is a system of raised dots that can be read with the fingers by people who are blind or who have low vision. “We are now trying to teach Braille here and we are hoping that maybe, this will be one of the ways we can try to implement the Mathematics curriculum…” Singh revealed.
But acquiring the pricey Braille system is not expected to be an easy task for the Society.
According to President of the Society, Cecil Morris, while a normal pen could cost as little as $100, a pen for the blind (Braille) could amount to as much as US$1,000 (G$200,000).
He however noted that computers with the relevant talking software can also serve the needed teaching purpose and could be less costly (around $60,000).
“The society is strapped for cash to offer some of the programmes that we would like to do. We have always been pleading with Government, pleading with private sector and private citizens to make donations to the Society,” said Morris.
Some support has been forthcoming. According to Singh it was only recently that Mr Dean Hassan an Investor of Tesouro Resources, donated $500,000 to the Blind Society which will help its envisioned efforts.
It wasn’t too long ago too that the 44 High Street, Werk-en-Rust building of the Society, was refurbished and outfitted with furniture and equipment, compliments of Basic Needs Trust Fund. “We got an Information Technology lab and our classes can now be transmitted live via the internet so that persons in Regions Two, Six and 10 can follow us live…We are trying to do it on Skype or maybe some other platform so that our classroom can be virtual,” said Singh.
The internet service utilised by the Society is offered free of cost by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company.
And it is hoped that support will continue as the Society looks to expand its operation. According to Singh, it is hoped that the CXC programme could soon have a physical presence in Linden, Region 10.
This proposed move is premised on the fact that “there is a high concentration of persons who are blind or visually impaired there,” Singh intimated. He is convinced that these individuals are not being afforded the opportunity to access secondary education, pointing out that while they are known to do well at the primary level they become lost in the system at the secondary level.
“We have to capture them now,” said Singh as he considered that the only foreseeable hindrance to the CXC programme is not having students take advantage of it. “I am sure that the Ministry of Education will continue to support us but there are a lot of young people whose parents want to keep them at home,” said Singh. This move is usually intended to protect them Singh noted, as he went on to explain that “it is a well known fact that there is a very negative label attached to people with disability or someone who is blind. People think of you as objects of charity, lacking any ability…’you just deh’; you can’t do anything.”
But according to him, by empowering blind/visually impaired people, the Society is poised to change that conventional thinking. “We want to change the status quo of disability in Guyana and through our work it can definitely happen,” asserted Singh.
Based on a survey conducted over a decade ago, the blind/visually impaired population amounted to about 8,000 individuals. It is however believed that with prevailing eye conditions such as glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy that figure is significantly higher.