Registration of visually impaired students is rising

The second Public Awareness Day for Students with Visual Impairment 2005 was held yesterday at The Mall in Gadong.

It was launched by the guest of honour, Deputy Minister of Education Pg Dato Dr Hj Mohammad bin Pg Hj Abd. Rahman.

The Public Awareness Day was organised by the Special Education Unit, Ministry of Education, with sponsorship from local companies, namely Sugi Sinar (B) Sdn Bhd, Standard Chartered Bank and Abdul Razak Holdings.

The first Public Awareness Day was last held on October 9-10 in conjunction with World Sight Day.
The event began with the reading of al-Fatihah by Mudim Kg Tamoi. This was followed by opening remarks by the co-chairperson of the ceremony, Acting Head of Special Education Unit Hjh Dyg Aming binti Hj Wasli.

She pointed out that the number of visually impaired students registered at the, Special Education Unit had increased since the Public Awareness Day was first launched last year.

There are currently 85 visually impaired students registered with the Special Education Unit who need assistance in the learning process in the classroom.

Several courses and workshops have been held for teachers, parents, guardians and students in efforts by the Special Education Unit to help visually impaired students in schools, Hjh Dyg Aming said.

She pointed out that some 60 teachers have attended workshops on vision impairment that was held in stages.

This year, 12 government primary and secondary teachers who had completed a Code Braille course sat for the Braille Specialist Examinations, which was sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank.

Following the launching of the public awareness day, the guest of honour presented certificates of the Braille Specialist Examination, which are recognised by the Royal New Zealand Foundation of The Blind, Auckland, to the 12 .teachers who sat for the examination.

Basic Braille Specialist certificates were also presented to four government and private school teachers, six parents, four volunteers and six visually impaired students.

The Braille learning classes was carried out by Cikgu Hj Roslan bin Hj Zulkefli, the programme coordinator for visually impaired students, Special Education Unit.

Various activities were held yesterday in conjunction with the event such as exhibits on visual impairment set up by the Special Education Unit, Brunei DarussalamNational Association for the Blind, Eye Specialist Clinic from the Ministry of Health and Pusat Ehsan.

The Eye Specialist Clinic also conducted free eye examinations for visitors to the exhibition.
Meanwhile, the Language and Literature Bureau - with cooperation from the Special Education Unit and Pusat Ehsan - has recently published several children's Braille books for the first time in Brunei.