Workbook final

079 - Guyana Society for the Blind, Guyana

ONTACT

Guyana Society for the Blind

Mr. Ganesh Singh

Guyana

+592 652 8975

VERALL GOAL

MISSION

The overall goal of the project is to give people who are blind or visually impaired and who have physical disabilities and

are between the age of fourteen and forty lessons in seven subjects that correspond to the Caribbean Secondary

Education Certificate (CSEC) Curriculum. This is made possible through the use of electronic devices (like electronic

textbooks or electronic notes) which allows them to participate in these lessons. The project offers them the

opportunity to get the Caribbean Examination Council qualifications which is the basis to realize tertiary level education.

The project also aims to build a reservoir of electronic teaching materials that can be shared throughout the Caribbean

with individuals and organizations working in the area of education for blind and visually impaired persons at a

secondary level. It also wants to bridge the existing communication gap and provide information in accessible formats to

the students using electronic methods that allow them to acquire a meaningful education.

HE SOLUTION THAT HAS BEEN DEVELOPED

Over the years only very few persons who are blind, visually impaired and have physical disabilities have had the

opportunity to achieve the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate, especially due to the lack of capacities within

learning institutions throughout the country. Many students are forced out of secondary schools because of their

disabilities and the schools inability to cater holistically to their learning needs such as having information in accessible

formats or sufficiently qualified staff that is able to work with them. There is also a lack of infrastructure (like ramps and

rails) which makes it impossible for persons with physical disabilities to enter educational facilities. Therefore, the

project intends that each one of the students participating in it will pursue studies over an eighteen to twenty four

months period with the students writing exams in May or June of the examination year. The teachers are predominantly

using electronic, audio and digital methods and each student is assessed to test their comprehension and analytical

skills prior to being enrolled into the program and has to have a secondary school background. The techniques used

within the project shall provide an interactive learning environment for the students, which are all equipped with

laptops by the Government of Guyana that use JAWS. The project provides all notes, textbooks, syllabuses and other

learning materials in electronic formats.