Twenty-one teachers from Region II last Friday concluded a three-day training workshop on  mainstreaming blind and low vision children into public schools at the Region Two Regional Education Office.

The workshop, organised by the  integrated Education Programme (IEP)  under the Department of Basic and Secondary Education (DoBSE) in collaboration with Sight Savers International, is aimed at  equipping participants with basic skills in handling mainstream blind and low vision children among their peers in their various classrooms.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mrs Ramou S Railey, National Coordinator of the Integrated Education Programme (IEP) said the consideration for the provision of quality education to blind and low vision children in The Gambia dates back to the early 1960s through the collaborative efforts of the Royal Commonwealth Society for the blind.
According to her, GOVI had, over the last three years, in collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare run a community integrated rehabilitation of the blind project in the North Bank Region.

"In 1994, DoSE as parts of its policy on special education with GOVI approached SSI for technical assistance for the expansion of education for blind and low vision children in the country and they responded positively by making a consultancy service available to DOSE," she revealed.

In his opening remarks on behalf of the Regional Director, Region II, Salifu  Jobe, a training officer said the training is uniquely important in the sense that it is not only going to ease up their job as teachers but  will also address some issues and concern surrounding them.

He applauded Sight Savers International for their support and assured them that participants would disseminate the knowledge and skills gained from the workshop to their  colleagues in their various schools.