Teaching Braille to children who are visually impaired

Improving inclusive education by providing opportunities for visually impaired children in Tuvalu

I’m Annie Dares, Inclusive Education lead with Tetra Tech International Development, where I support the Scholarship and Education teams in the Indo-Pacific.

I recently had the opportunity to work with Ben Clare, a renowned Disability Advocate, for the Tuvalu and Australia Partnership for Quality Education (TAPQE) program.

We travelled to Tuvalu in June as part of the program’s initiatives to support inclusive education. Ben taught visually impaired students and teachers as part of his work as a Tetra Tech Short-Term Advisor for TAPQE.

TAPQE is a transformative education program, funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and building on the progress of the Australia Awards and Australia Support of Education in Tuvalu (ASET).

Tetra Tech International Development Indo Pacific manages TAPQE on behalf of the Australian Government.

Ben is a board member of the International Development Contractors Community and a Braille literate person with lived experience of disability, with over 20 years’ experience working in disability inclusion across Australia and the Pacific. He has extensive knowledge of disability policy and implementation, having worked across many countries with blind people who otherwise don’t have access to education systems.

Ben shared his reflections on his time working in Tuvalu.

TAPQE aims to support more inclusive education, what defines inclusive education?

Inclusive education happens when students with disabilities are participating fully in all aspects of school life, including in and out of class activities, socialising and of course attaining adequate levels of literacy and numeracy.

What opportunities is the initiative creating in Tuvalu?

Through the provision of a Perkins Braille machine and my input, TAPQE is providing opportunities to blind people in Tuvalu. For people who are blind, introduction to Braille, a code that facilitates a blind person’s path to literacy is paramount.

In many parts of the world, this vital learning activity cannot be undertaken due the lack of the necessary assistive equipment and personnel trained in Braille.

What did your work in Tuvalu involve?

Through this input, I worked with an exceptionally bright young girl, Ms Toko Simona, a 6-year-old twin who aspires to be a doctor when she grows up.

Through the program, I spent 10 days introducing Toko to the Braille code utilising the donated Braille machine. This happened in partnership with the established inclusive education centre within Nauti Primary School where Toko attends as a student.

Despite the limited time and the complexity of the Braille code, Toko has made astounding progress, being able to Braille sentences, her own name and the alphabet with little prompting.

How is the program ensuring sustainability and continuation of training for students like Toko?

The dedicated inclusive education centre staff participated in the training program and learnt alongside Toko. They have undertaken to continue lessons beyond my visit to Tuvalu.

I also conducted professional development workshops with Nauti Primary School staff and this involved Fusi Alofa, Tuvalu’s national disability advocacy organisation who offered their unique insights during the workshops which explored various topics related to inclusive education and techniques for working with blind people within the classroom environment.

This training, including the Braille lessons with Toko clearly showed the commitment and dedication the people of Tuvalu have to inclusive education.

Ben’s input will continue remotely with regular liaison between the TAPQE Inclusive Education team in Tuvalu, parents, teachers at Nauti and of course, Toko.

Read more about Inclusive Education at Tetra Tech.

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