Ntsebeng Motsoeli MASERU — The Lesotho National Federation of the Disabled has donated braille workbooks to the Lesotho Distance Teaching Centre (LDTC). LDTC is a government-run correspondence college set up to complement formal education for primary school leavers who cannot go into formal secondary schools as well as those who have not completed their secondary school education. The LDTC deputy director, Mcebisi Tyhali, said it has been difficult to teach visually impaired students without Braille books. Tyhali was speaking during an event to hand over the Junior Certificate and the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate textbooks in Maseru on Friday. “We are thrilled to have these textbooks. They are going to improve the quality of education for our visually impaired students. It has been challenging teaching them without textbooks.
“They only relied on the information they get from their teachers. “That impacted badly on their school work because they could not read on their own at home,” Tyhali said. Tiisetso Sebota, a visually impaired student at LDTC, said they had to leave school last November when the school could not supply Braille books for their studies. Sebota said she was looking forward to going back to school now that LNFOD has supplied her school with books.
“Now we can go back to school and hopefully finish our studies,” Sebota said. She said there is need for more Braille books for visually impaired students in Lesotho. “Learning is difficult without Braille books for visually impaired people. We have to rely on other students to read for us. It is a challenge when you cannot revisit your books to remind yourself of what you have learnt,” she said. ’Marorisang Mafethe, the LNFOD executive officer, said there is a critical shortage of specialised learning equipment for people with disabilities, especially those who are visually impaired. “LNFOD initiated the project to print Braille books in an effort to address the need. We hope the government will take it from here so that visually impaired people can have access to books just like every other student,” Mafethe said.
The 11-month long project has printed 77 textbooks for Commerce, English and Development Studies. “We hope the books will enable visually impaired adult students to study independently where previously they had to rely on friends or family to read to them.”