Computer centre eases access for PE learners with disabilities

Friday, October 19, 2018

Social Development Deputy Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu will today unveil a specialised computer centre in Port Elizabeth to address the educational needs of learners with disabilities.

The computer laboratory, to be opened at Khanyisa Special School for the Visually Impaired, is equipped with 22 computers with specialised programs that cater for visually impaired learners and their school syllabus.

The centre also has an interactive board, which will assist the learners with skills in numeracy, literacy and sign language. 

The launch of the computer centre forms part of a longstanding public-private partnership (PPP) between the Department of Social Development and the MTN SA Foundation. 

Spearheaded by Bogopane-Zulu, the PPP aims to ensure that disabled learners are afforded equal learning opportunities through information and communication technology. 

Bogopane-Zulu said computer laboratories are proven to assist learners with disabilities to realise their potential.

“We have persons with disabilities who are doing well in different avenues of their lives because they were granted opportunities and facilities that cater for their disabilities,” said the Deputy Minister, who is also visually impaired.

Established in 1988, Khanyisa Special School caters for 136 visually impaired learners. Eighty-two of these learners reside on the school premises.

The month of October is commemorated as Social Development Month, where the department’s officials take part in programmes throughout the country, as part of government’s vision to address the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality.

These efforts also form part of the global centenary celebrations of the lives of Tata Nelson Mandela and Mama Albertina Nontsikelelo Sisulu, who both contributed to the struggle for liberation of all South Africans. – SAnews.gov.za