In keeping with its dedication to making learning and knowledge consumption more suitable and accessible to visually impaired children, Kalimat Foundation for Children’s Empowerment (KF)’s ARA initiative has presented a collection of 1,100 Arabic language learning materials to the visually impaired students at Al Noor school, Kuwait.
In doing so, the KF subsidiary has reached another milestone in furthering its commitment to removing barriers to learning for children with special abilities.
The collection comprises 100 audiobooks, 500 large-print and 500 braille books. Through these, KF seeks to facilitate the students’ journey of learning and improve their access to more quality Arabic language content.
These were presented to Al Noor school management during a special ceremony. In turn, the school honoured KF in recognition of its leading efforts to support children with special needs. The ceremony was attended by a several visual-disability experts, pedagogues and teachers.
Amna Al Mazmi, Manager of Kalimat Foundation for Children’s Empowerment, said: “The Foundation is keen to give all Arab children, wherever they are, access to books, in line with our objectives to nurture their academic and linguistic skills. We aim to instil values of authentic Arab culture in our future generations, and bring them together with books in accessible formats, which will be the basis of their personalities, careers and life experiences. Life’s challenges are better faced when one is empowered with words, ideas and intellectuality.”
Kalimat Foundation for Children’s Empowerment is a non-profit organization that seeks to ensure the basic right of every child to read and to have access to books. It hopes to make society more caring and understanding through literacy and exposure to books. The Foundation works to provide books to children in deprived and trauma-affected regions, and believes that books are the fastest means to successful social development. Founded by Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi in early 2016, it takes its name from her publishing house, Kalimat (Arabic for ‘words’) which has been publishing children’s books in Arabic since 2007.
