@ED2030AfricaHow is the coronavirus affecting learners with disabilities?
Schools perform many functions outside of education. They provide a safe haven, a social arena, and, for families with children with special needs, they offer vital one-to-one support. Online learning, by comparison, is simply not up to the task. So what about their right to an education?
(c) Shivam Kapoor/UNESCO
Many websites and programmes are simply not accessible for blind or deaf students. As the 2020 GEM Report on inclusion will show, we have the technology to ensure that visually impaired students can study in mainstream schools and to use online studying materials in different formats, such as scanned versions that convert texts into sound or Braille characters – and some countries already do this. But, with schools closed around the world, some teachers are going the extra mile, using video conferencing to try and teach Braille, as this example from Canada describes, this is the exception rather than the rule. And it is not sustainable.