1月14日VOA聽力：肯尼亞瞽者門生經由過程技巧舉行進修
17 years old Lucas Mwanzia intently searches theinternet for information.
Today’s class is on biology.
Mwanzia is visually impaired and for the last twoyears has been attending computer classes at theThika School for the Blind.
Mwanzia is in eighth grade, having started school ata later age because of his vision.
He says the technology has opened up new frontiers that were once inaccessible.
“Braille books are quite expensive and you have to use quite a sum to purchase one.
But now since we have computers we get the books at virtually no cost.
So we download the various books to read and when are done we just close the program.”
The school embraced "assistive technology" six years ago, enabling blind and visually-impairedstudents to access information from computers and iPads.
Zachary Muasya, one of the school's teachers, was born blind.
He has been teaching the students how to use the technology for about two years now.
He says the technology presents opportunities that can level the playing field for his students.
“Assistive technology equips the learners with very many skills that really make themindependent in life.
They can read materials like books, magazines, newspapers by themselves.
And apart from that-assistive technology equips them with employable skills.”
The assistive technology costs $1,000 for a school to install.
But an NGO called InAble has provided it to the schools at no cost.
Peter Okeyo, the program manager at InAble, says blind students using the technology may stillface challenges when they move to higher education.
“When learners move from primary to high school and then to universities, they go touniversity and then they realize there is not that technology.
So the fact that they learnt that technology in primary and high school, when they move touniversity they go back to braille which is another challenge to them.”
So far, four out of Kenya's 11 schools for the blind have adopted the technology.
InAble says it will provide the funding for the remaining schools to come on board.
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