07 Mar 2022

In the quest to provide enabling environment for long term survival skills and independence to learners with visual challenges, it is critical to give such learners vocational skills.

This was said by board chairperson of Lephoi Centre for the Blind, Mr Kitso Ramahobo at the end of a sponsored walk aimed at raising funds for a vocational training centre for learners with multiple disabilities; primarily being blindness and visual impairment.

He said the target was learners with visual impairment, whom, because of health reasons, could not continue with specialised education, but had other abilities that could be further developed and nurtured.

Mr Ramahobo said after its  establishment in 1985, Lephoi Centre, which was funded by a German organisation; Christofell Bindon Mission, had the capacity to accommodate only 16 children (eight boys and eight girls) and a staff compliment of five.

“To date, the centre has the capacity to accommodate 55 children, but has only 32 children in residence and a staff complement of 25,” he said.

He noted that from 2013 to 2012, the centre graduated only 14 learners; 10 males and four females, adding that such was so because there was currently no educational provision for blind children who have other disabilities.

“This challenge was worsened by the fact that there was no transition policy or plan for learners with multiple disabilities, hence causing them to overstay in one academic stage,” he said.

Mr Ramahobo said those who managed to transit to Junior Secondary Schools in Mochudi had not been doing well due to a number of reasons, both psychosocial and academic environment.

Such situation, he said, was also made worse by the fact that when they failed secondary school level, there were limited vocational training centres to help improve their vocational skills.

He noted that from 2013 to 2021, the centre housed more than 35 blind children who successfully transitioned to Form One, but their academic performances declined because of lack of multiple pathway transition. Turkish Ambassador to Botswana Ms Meltem Buyukarakas said it was not disability that mattered, but the talent that a person carried.

She said the creation of conducive learning environment for learners with disabilities such as blindness should be prioritised.

She urged the community not to perceive those with blindness as people with no role to play, but as people who could participate in the development of the country, as such should not be left behind.

Head of consumer, priority and business banking, Mr Bino Rasedisa said learners at Lephoi Centre had dreams that should be nurtured irrespective of their backgrounds.

She encouraged stakeholders to support such dreams and make them become a reality.

Ms Buyukarakas urged parents to fashion a better future for their children and leave a legacy just as Lephoi Centre was doing. ENDS