A Blind Affection for Learning
Monday, April 28, 2008 - by seiha
It is a typical late Saturday afternoon inside Chbar Ampov boarding school for blind children in Phnom Penh. It is dusty, hot and quiet, as on Saturdays no classes are held. In the school yard, under the shadow of some trees, a few blind students are walking back and forth. It looks so smooth as if they were not blind. Most of them have lived here for more than ten years.
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Sinart, 19 and blind from birth, is sitting quietly under a tree nearby. She is revising what she learned in public school this morning. “I’m not sure how old I am. All I know is that I was born in Swai Sisophon. I have never seen my parents. I lived with my aunt until I was two or three years old. Then my aunt abandoned me at a pagoda and the manager of the Krousar Thmey brought me here”, says Sinart. Now I don’t want to leave this place.”
Sinart is a ninth grader. Every day, Sinart and other blind children from her boarding school go to study at the public Chbar Ampov high school. She shares the classroom with non-blind children for half the day. In the afternoon, she and her friends return to study at the boarding school which is supported by Krousar Thmey.
Before Students start grade one at Chbar Ampov, they have to learn Braille to enable them to follow the lessons. Braille is a system of reading and writing for blind people, using raised dots which are read using the fingers.
Students also have to learn how to move around where they live and study, in order to be independent and feel comfortable. However, what students learn at their school is just the same as in public schools. Only in grade three, do the blind children at Chbar Ampov start public school.
“When I want to take down what the teachers write on the board at the public school, I have to ask my classmate to read it to me. The teachers never give me any homework, because they can’t read Braille”, said Piteu. Even though there are some problems, the student is happy with what he has. “I have a place to stay, friends, and I can go to school like anyone else.”
The school for blind children in Chbar Ampov also provides vocational training to students and training for teachers who teach blind children.
According to the 2006 annual report of Krousar Thmey, there are four schools for blind children in Cambodia.
The school for blind children in Chbar Ampov (Phnom Penh) with 73 students, the school in Battambang with 43, the school in Siem Reap with 37 and the school in Kampong Cham with 87. The Chbar Ampov School for Blind Children in Phnom Penh runs the only printing house in Cambodia which publishes Braille text books. The lessons in the books are the same as those used by non-blind children in public schools. The Author: Sothea Chhin
