Classes begin for sixth batch of students

TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD Sachi Harricharan can still remember his childhood days when he was strong enough to ride a bike. Although his physical disability has progressed to the point where it’s a struggle for him to walk each day, he has mustered up the courage to register for classes to be able to sit the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations next year.

What is more, Sachi has to cope with partial blindness. But even with the daunting road ahead, he said he will do whatever he can to at least secure fair grades.

“The work is hard. But once I continue reading, studying, doing whatever I can, I’m sure I will do fairly well. I will accept a fair result,” he told the Pepperpot Magazine during an interview at the Guyana Society for the Blind on High Street, Georgetown.

Sachi, a resident of Herstelling, East Bank Demerara (EBD), is one of 11 persons who registered with the Society to write the exams; some next year and some in 2020.
He went up to Primary Three at a private school on the EBD and also took some classes at the Open Doors Centre. “I wasn’t able to pass the classes because I wasn’t learning anything,” he recalled.

Sachi can only remember one instance when he passed a test because he received one-on-one help from a teacher. Now that he has taken on the challenge of writing the CSEC exams, he often asks himself just how he will do. “I didn’t want to go back to school,” he said, “But my stability makes me unable to write fast; and sometimes, I can’t understand what I write.”

But Sachi says though, that he will not be too hard on himself but will accept whatever results are obtained once he has put in his best.

Seventeen-year-old Faith Greene, who was born with glaucoma and only sees a little these days, is another student who has signed up for classes.

She told this publication that while she got the opportunity to attend mainstream schools (Head Start Nursery, Tucville Primary and East Ruimveldt Secondary), school life was very hard for her.

She went up to Form Five but hesitated when it the time came for writing exams. “I didn’t feel comfortable around the other class members to write CXC. I didn’t feel confident enough,” she said.
Now though, she is planning to write five subjects. “I think I will do great if I work hard enough,” the young woman said.

COPYING/TYPING TEXTBOOKS
One of the teachers, Theresa Pemberton, works very hard to be able to help the students do well. She is very passionate about helping persons with disabilities and goes the extra mile to provide whatever they need to succeed.

For instance, she is one of the persons who undertook the mountainous task of copying all of the needed textbooks so that the students can have access to them electronically. The students are able to study for and write the exams only with the help of the textbooks in electronic format.

“I find it really satisfying,” she told the Pepperpot Magazine, adding, “My satisfaction comes when the children do well and become employed and live independent lives. It’s very, very challenging; very challenging. But if you love what you do the challenges are nothing.”
She does all of the paperwork, printing and marking of the exams. “I always tell the students: ‘The most important thing is to keep reading. The more you read, the more you learn. You just have to keep reading. To get the valuable things in life, you have to dig deep; real deep because nothing is there in the shallow waters.’ It’s a challenge, but it’s a lovely challenge because you get rewards for it.”

Executive Member of the Society, Ganesh Singh, who is one of the other teachers, said of the students who registered so far, five have visual impairments while the others are coping with different types of disabilities, including physical and learning.

The classes are held on Mondays, Thursdays Fridays and Saturdays, free of cost, and seven subjects are being taught. They are Principles of Business, Office Administration, Social Studies, English A, Human and Social Biology, Caribbean History and Religious Studies.
Singh said the Society is still open to anyone with a disability who would like to start the classes. “Get in touch with us quickly. We can facilitate persons via Skype, so they don’t have to necessarily be here.”

Singh said the Society is especially thankful to the Government’s ‘E-Governance’ project and to Floyd Levi from the National Data Management Agency for providing “excellent technical support,” laptops and so forth.

FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
The CSEC Initiative for persons with disabilities is Singh’s brainchild. He recalled that he was working with the then OLPF (One Laptop Per Family) initiative and was recruited to train blind and visually impaired persons who received laptops on how to use them.
“When I worked with the young people, I saw their potential; that they were very, very intelligent and never had an opportunity. The idea came to me; I guess divine intervention. I thought you can use these same laptops, put all the learning materials in electronic format; and we basically teach them the same curriculum.

“I sold the idea to a few persons and some were unwilling to jump on the bandwagon. I sold it to Evelyn Hamilton, Chief Planning Officer at Ministry of Education, and she said it is something she was sure the Ministry would support,” Singh recalled. There was no turning back once the ministry came on board.

“We never knew that we could’ve come this far and we continue to grow from strength to strength. We continue to make a significant impact in the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired because we’ve seen the difference it can make,” Singh said.

Approximately 40 persons have written the CSEC exams since the project got underway.