–Mentor says of Region’s response to ‘Blind Awareness’ month of activities

FOUR special-needs teachers attached to the Visually Impaired Unit at the Wismar Hill Primary School, have embarked on a month of activities, which entails visiting nursery and primary schools across Linden.
The purpose of their visits is to sensitise the children and teachers of those schools on preventative measures they should be taking to avoid being afflicted with the malady, as well as how to treat their peers and other persons who are visually impaired in an effort to stamp out discrimination and bullying.

Some of the schools being visited were Pine Street Nursery, Bamia Primary and Nursery, One Mile Nursery, Middle Street Nursery and Watooka Day Nursery.
Blind Awareness Day, which was observed here yesterday, culminates a month of activities to mark the occasion. The theme under which those activities were held this year was, “Our Action capacity exceeds our blindness”.
Head of the Visually Impaired Unit at Wismar Hill Primary, Ms Shellon Swaving told the Guyana Chronicle that this is the ninth year that the Unit has embarked on this initiative; and this year, the events were nothing short of successful, as the response was overwhelming.
The other special-needs teachers are Ms Jenelle Williams, Teshawn Rodney and Amin Britton. “We visited Nursery as well as Primary Schools, and the children were able to ask us questions about the eyes: How to deal with the eyes, how to clean the eyes with treated water and not pipe water and so on,” Swaving said.
“We spoke about children bullying, and the correct way to assist somebody who is visually impaired or blind; we told them what they should do,” she added.
She estimates that there are about 35 children who are visually impaired that are integrated into regular nursery, primary and secondary schools across Linden. For the early intervention programme, the Unit is currently monitoring two visually-impaired babies and two blind ones.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Swaving said that while some of the challenges being experienced at the Unit have been addressed, that there is still room for improvement.
“We are hoping for better; we have hope that things will be looking up soon,” she said. She would also like to encourage the parents of children who are blind or visually impaired to enroll them with the Unit rather than keep them at home and allow whatever hidden talent they may have to go to waste.
“We want them to know that they can get help; that they can live a normal life and be supported,” she said.
She also wants those parents to know that in addition to the academic subjects, visually impaired children are not just taught life skills, but are also encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities.

“We teach them a little music,” Teacher Shellon said, adding: “We have the blind cricket, we have paralympic sports that they compete in and are successful at, and win medals…
“We are always out and in front, trying to get things for them. We had children who travelled abroad to play the blind cricket and we feel good about that.”
She also spoke highly of the many students who attended the Unit who have done well at both academic and extra-curricular activities.
One visually-impaired student attending Mackenzie High, she said, placed among the top 10 in his class at the last end-of-term examination, while another student, who is currently sitting eight subjects at CSEC, not only has the potential to do very well in life, but has also represented Guyana in Trinidad on the Blind Cricket Team.
Another visually-impaired student, who now teaches at the Unit was the second top student for the CSEC blind classes last year, and another former student, who also did well at CSEC has recently completed a course in leadership skills under the Ministry of the Presidency.
Students writing the National Grade Six Assessment Examination have also attained places at St. Roses High and Mackenzie High.
As a result of this, Swaving believes that the students should receive as much support as possible from the relevant authorities.
“At NCERD, they are doing a very good job in terms of assisting and supporting the Unit for the Blind in Georgetown and well as in Linden,” Swaving said, adding:
“Regional Education Officer, Ms Paddy should also be commended for the great job that she is doing in terms of supporting us.”
The teachers normally visit schools where there are visually-impaired pupils or students every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to lend the needed special assistance to them, since the aim of the Unit is not to segregate but to integrate them into the regular schooling system.