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Handover ceremony of the small-scale local project supporting visually impaired pupils

On August 16, 2019, the Czech Embassy development team attended the handover inauguration ceremony of the small-scale local project that is supported by the Czech Republic Embassy in Addis Abeba. The project titled “Facilitating integration of and access to educative materials for children with visual impairment” focuses on improving access for children with visual impairment to educative materials and a for their better inclusion into regular schools.  

At the ceremony, different educative and support materials such as braille printer, binder, 20 tablets (used for downloading and listening to various textbooks), earphones and 50 white canes were provided to the target groups. The soft components of the project include assessment of audio textbooks availability and recording of four new missing textbooks.

Handover ceremony at the school in Bishoftu.

Handover ceremony at the school in Bishoftu.

This should help the learning system at the special school. The tablets will have schoolbooks transferred into audio format, which will help the visually impaired pupils to join regular schools in Bishoftu and elsewhere.

Awarness raising session.

Awarness raising session.

An awareness raising session was part of the handover ceremony and it included a simulation that served as a lesson to acknowledge the struggles that visually impaired people face on daily basis. The pupils then presented poems and songs to lighten up the occasion. Ms. Dinkinish, a tenth grader, was among the performers.  She described the benefits of the project in her own words:

“Before coming to Bishoftu, I was living in Gonder and the community I lived in has always looked down on me as I was cursed because of my impairment, more so because my mom is also visually impaired", Dinkinish said. Although there was much discrimination and plenty of challenges, my mother managed to send me to school".  However, things changed for the better when I moved to Bishoftu and joined the special school. My mother was relieved. I have always noticed her sadness and sorrow and was burdened taking care of me despite her own challenges. The opportunity I have now has equipped me the tools and knowledge I need to join regular schools and be afforded opportunities to perform on an equal level with the other students. I am highly thankful for that and I hope to repay it forward by becoming the best student that I know I can become.“

Pupils singing.

Pupils singing.

The project is implemented with the collaboration Eshet Children and Youth Development Organization (ECYDO) and Support and Care for People with Disabilities Association (SCPDA). It directly benefits 20 children with visual impairment. Among those 10 have already graduated from the special school in Bishoftu and are attending regular schools. The remaining students are still at the school in Bishoftu.