Learners and teachers at Rejaf Educational Center for Blind receive braille bossier and other mutimedia materials. July 3, 2023. Photo: Charles Wote/Eye Radio

JUBA, South Sudan (Eye Radio) – As the world marked World Braille Day on January 4, the leadership of the Rajaf Education Center for the Blind issued a formal appeal to the government to expand Braille literacy training for teachers across South Sudan’s ten states and three administrative areas.

Braille, a tactile writing system featuring raised dots arranged in cells, has been the cornerstone of literacy for the visually impaired since its invention by Louis Braille in 1824. For the blind, it is not merely a tool for reading, but a vital instrument for the full realization of human rights and academic independence.

Speaking to Eye Radio on Monday, January 5, Levi Sunday Clement, the Headteacher of the Rajaf Education Center for the Blind, highlighted a significant gap in the national education system. Currently, specialized instruction for visually impaired students remains heavily centralized, leaving many children in the states without qualified educators.

“There is a need for training for teachers dealing with the visually impaired to ensure inclusive education,” Clement stated. “That can only be done through the training of teachers in the ten states and the three administrative areas. This [Rajaf] is the only school here in Juba teaching and writing in Braille.”

World Braille Day serves as a global remindeof the importance of accessibility. For learners in South Sudan, the ability to read and write Braille is the difference between exclusion and active participation in social and economic development.

Clement emphasized that equipping educators with these specific skills is the only way to decentralize support and ensure that visually impaired students—regardless of their location—receive the quality education they are entitled to under the law.

The call comes at a time when South Sudan is striving to modernize its educational curriculum, with advocates arguing that “true inclusivity” must include the provision of Braille materials and the specialized training of staff in every corner of the country.