Kalimat Foundation for Children’s Empowerment (KF), the Sharjah-based non-profit children’s organisation, has donated 150 audio, braille and large print books to visually impaired students at the Abdullah Ibn Umm Maktum School in the Jordan capital Amman. The donation comes in line with KF’s vision to promote the role of children with special needs and in line with the ‘Year of Giving 2017, ‘as declared by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The visit is among the means adopted by KF to implement the ‘Ara’ initiative it launched during its participation at the ninth edition of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival to promote awareness about children who are visually impaired and to encourage community segments to support their education pursuits. The initiative also aimed to gain a closer view of children’s abilities and their needs for learning materials and sources of knowledge.
During the visit, Amna Al Mazmi, Manager of KF, met Abdul Monem Al Duwairi, Principal of the school, and a number of the teaching and administrative staff. She discussed possible avenues of cooperation to realise the foundation’s aim of advancing knowledge and enhancing the educational performance of students with visual impairment.
Al Mazmi said: “Children with special needs face difficulties in obtaining the necessary books written in braille, due to a lack of Arabic content and high prices. This is why we took the initiative of providing this collection of books for the Abdullah Ibn Umm Maktum School for the Visually Impaired. The initiative aims to meet students’ needs for braille books and to enrich the school’s library that serves generations of pupils.” She added: “We sought opportunities for more cooperation and future joint action with the school and various institutions for people with special needs.”
Abdul Monem Al Duwairi said: “Our school provides care and education for students with visual impairment from grades 1-12, where we offer all the academic and rehabilitative services they need. We look forward to providing the school’s library with a range of braille books, stories and novels.”