Letter received from  Jeremy Opperman - addressed to the I-Opener (Council's monthly newsletter)
Sent: 17 February 2011

"Dear I-Opener

I would like to reiterate my deepest concern About the reference to Blind Matriculatns made in the last I Opener.

Jace you may remember last year we had this conversation, but I was saddened to see another  reference to this matter in a similar jocular style in the last I Opener.

The fact is that there is absolutely nothing to congratulate ourselves about in terms of the truly horrific matriculation results of Blind kids. It must be remembered that most people, and many readers of  I-Opener have no real appreciation of the reality of disabled education - let alone that provided for the blind.

Therefore they are completely lulled into numbed complacency  with jocular up beat little stories of matriculation success.  Also, imbalanced accounts like this which fail to refer to all the other schools who had matriculations sends a confusing and dangerous message.  I-Opener should be writing in the most critical and sobering way flying metaphorical half mast flags about this very, very serious state of affairs, NOT congratulating  anything.

Certainly, and I speak from very recent experience, with my own sighted daughter passing matric last year, all matriculants deserve congratulations - especially those who did very well. However, it must be done in the shocking context that  exists:
1.    that far too few schools for disabled learners, including blind learners, don’t offer matric at all or offer very diluted dumbed down matrics;
2.    That too many learners leave school  before matric, either because their school does not offer it or because they are actively discouraged from finishing by unscrupulous teachers too lazy to provide appropriate education.

Why does I-Opener , as probably the widest read blind subject matter magazine, not open some eyes by doing a little research into the truth:
1.    How many blind or mixed disability schools are there in SA?
2.    How many per province?    
3.    How many offer matric?
4.    How many offer a science or maths or Bachelor matric?
5.    How many blind matriculatns are there in SA, and in each province?  
6.    How many pass?
7.    How many blind matriculants sought their matric in mainstream schools or colleges?
8.    How many blind and partially sighted kids are there in SA really? (I suggest that global WBU  sort of stats are used to make this kind of estimation rather than the usual transparently spurious drivel from Stats SA which we still see too much of.)
9.    Compare the two, and hang our heads in shame.

If we don’t open people's eyes to the truth, then we cannot expect them to understand why a change to the status quo is an imperative. 

Jeremy Opperman"

Relply from Jace Nair - Council's National Executive Director

"Dear Jeremy

Greetings and best wishes.

Your comments made in this email and in our previous discussions is taken seriously. I would just like to list some of the processes we initiated during the past fifteen months. These may not necessarily be in any date or priority order.

Your concerns was discussed with the manager of our Education and Training Division, SANCB Education Committee and at the NEC (National Executive Committee). We even raised the issues, not necessarily indicating that it came from you, at the joint meeting of Blind SA Education Committee, Braille SA and SANCB Education Committee meeting. The matter was also tabled at the meeting with the DDG of the Department of Basic Education in October last year.

Arising from these initiative and advocacy undertaken by other NGO’s and individuals, the DBE has accepted many of the resolutions submitted by Council to them. The first major step was the recent capacity building education workshop organised by the DBE in Johannesburg. All 22 special schools in our sector were invited – represented by the principal and two representatives from the SMT, district and provincial officials of the department. The DBE has a report on their investigations. Other recommendations from this report is to be finalised during the next year. Issues around; admission, hostel, transport, ltsm, curriculum – Braille o & M, adaptation of workbooks, exams, etc.

We also wrote to the Minister of Basic Education and sent out an open letter to the media. The DDG of DBE informed us that the minister had directed the department to address the concerns raised. Other issues of learner abuse was also taken up. We have also taken up these matters with the Ministry for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities.

So you see we have taken your constructive criticism seriously. With your permission, I would like to request Madalein to include your original email with my reply to be published in the next edition of the I-Opener, alternatively, you write a piece for the publication.

Regards
Jace"