The success of six blind and visually impaired students in this year’s SEA exams is proving that with support, every child can achieve excellence.
President of the Trinidad and Tobago Blind Welfare Association, Kenneth Suratt, is applauding the inclusivity in the public education system following the recent success of the students in the Secondary Entrance Assessment exams.
“Each year goes by, we’re getting more and more children in mainstream education, and what we also observing in the past, sometimes they would’ve limit our children to go to a particular number of regular schools, we are seeing the children going to new schools.”
He said with technological advancements, like 3D printing, now being done in-house, the Blind Welfare Association is equipping students with the materials needed to examine objects or structures as they learn.
They have also encouraged the use of artificial intelligence for its transcribing features and suggested apps like Cash Reader when conducting payment transactions.
“Once our welfare officer, that is, our field officer, assesses the child, we will provide as much as possible for the child.”
As the students prepare to enter their various secondary schools, Mr Suratt assured that the Association’s efforts will continue.
“We introduce heavy devices for children in secondary schools, so we will digitise their books so that a child could have their entire books on their device so they could function from the classroom as far as possible using their device, either with a refreshable braille display or they will use their devices.”
The Blind Welfare Association President said they are committed to celebrating their members’ academic success at every level.
“We’ve have quite a number of students going to university. We have someone who is totally blind from birth, he did his Masters in IT. We have one in political science, she finished a couple years ago. One did economics, and we have quite a number of them still, maybe two or three of them still, at either UTT or UWI, or at COSTAATT.”
While the way in which they learn differs, Mr Suratt has this message for parents: “We are encouraging all parents, if you have a child who is blind, it is not the end of the world, but it could be the beginning of a beautiful journey.”
He added that with some slight modifications, education, games and even entertainment can all still be enjoyed.