With individual efforts | Blind teachers set up school to teach blind children in Idlib city

SOHR activists say that blind teachers have set up a school in Idlib city to teach blind children, both male and female, the first of its kind in north-western Syria.

 A school employee speaks to the Syrian Observatory: “The idea emerged in one of the therapy sessions, in collaboration with friends with special needs, to set up a school for blind children.”

The school consists of three classrooms, comprising some 70 male and female students, under the supervision of an educational staff comprising a number of blind teachers and administrators with no more than ten staff, in addition to a media activist without disability.

According to teachers, the school’s goal is to teach children to write on electronic devices, move without anyone’s help, and help them overcome psychological trauma after their disabilities, where most of the disabilities were caused by the nearly 10-year war.

The educational staff complain of a lack of support from educational organizations, while the Ministry of Education of the Rescue Government contributes a fraction of the school’s operational cost.

The school’s teaching staff work voluntarily at this school, while they receive little support from the parents of the blind children and a number of benefactors, which does not cover transportation expenses.