Eleven students from schools across the country, who are either partially visually impaired or completely blind, on Tuesday benefited from a donation of laptops by the Guyana Society for the Blind through sponsors in observance of International Day for Persons with Disabilities.
The simple presentation was made to the students at the society’s High Street, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown, Headquarters.
In opening remarks, Ganesh Singh, a longstanding disability advocate and member of the Guyana Council of Organizations for Persons with Disability (GCOPD) and Society for the Blind, explained that this project was conceived to help children advance in school. This, he noted, was birthed after partnering with Shelly Singh, a visually-impaired person who reached out to have the business community donate computers.
“This project was conceptualised a very long time ago to give children who are blind and visually impaired laptops to children who are in the school system but because of the lack of resources from the Guyana Council, we were not able to execute…She was able to raise twelve laptops that will be given to children from Region Two, Four, Three and Ten,” he explained.
While reflecting on how he benefited from a computer during his university years, Singh emphasised that the importance of assisting these students with disability to have full access to education.
“So we are hoping that with this, the children can have a much better opportunity for a meaningful education because I can explain to you how important a computer is to someone who is blind…so without that computer, I would be lost even with the work I do on a daily basis, and that’s been at the forefront of advocating for children who are blind and visually impaired to have computers,” Singh noted.
