DESPITE limited resources and the stigma they endure from some members of society, students of the Salvation Army School for the Blind and Visually Impaired overcame the odds to perform outstandingly in the Caribbean Examinations Council exams in June last year.

The students — some of whom attend regular high schools while also being enrolled at the institution, located at Mannings Hill Road in St Andrew — gained passes in subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) levels.

The blind scholars at CSEC included:

* Diana Ferguson, who passed principles of business and home management at grade 1, religious education at grade 2, and English at grade 3;

* Terry Ann Dunkley, who passed English and social studies at grade 2 and mathematics at grade 3;

* Niecia Rainford, who passed home management at grade 1; and

* Alister McLean of Jamaica College, who passed social studies and English at grade 1, as well as history, English literature, office administration and principles of business at grade 2.

At the CAPE level, they included:

* Caneal Graham of Calabar High, who passed Caribbean Studies at grade 2, sociology at grade 3, literature at grade 5 and management of business at grade 6;

* Jason Ricketts, of Meadowbrook High, who passed Caribbean Studies at grade 1, as well as literature and law at grade 3;

* Robert Williams of Jamaica College, who passed Caribbean Studies at grade 1, as well as law, literature and management of business at grade 3, and sociology at grade 4; in addition to

* Charane Daley of Jamaica College, who passed sociology at 3, as well as Caribbean Studies, management of business and history at grade 4.

Prinicipal of Salvation Army School for the Blind and Visually Impaired Iyeke Erharyu, in commending the students, noted that the blind student faces greater learning challenges than a child with regular sight. Such challenges, he said, include the unavailability of reading material, and the inability to learn from television, pictures and other visual stimuli around them.

“The child who is born blind is at a disadvantage from day one. From a mother smiles at her ‘regular’ baby, the baby is able to see and smile back. But the blind child misses out on all of that. The regular child is able to learn a lot from the physical appearance and expressions of the teacher; the blind child can only hear the voice,” he told Career & Education.

The principal also noted that students from the school who do well in the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) are placed in regular high schools. These students attend the regular high schools while also being enrolled with Salvation Army School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and assisted by teachers there.

These students then come to Salvation Army School for the Blind and Visually Impaired at 3:00 pm each afternoon to do assignments with the help of teachers, and to use special computers and have texts transcribed into Braille.

Erharyu is particularly proud of Terry Ann Dunkley who he said is the first student from the school to register for CSEC mathematics in a decade.

“It is considered difficult, some think impossible, for blind persons to excel in mathematics,” Erharyu said, commenting on Dunkley’s achievement.

Of note, too, is Niecia Rainford’s grade 1 in home management. Rainford is not only blind but has physical and learning disabilities, Erharyu noted.

Both Jason Ricketts and Robert Williams are now at the University of West Indies studying liberal arts and social sciences respectively.

But even as the students are performing admirably, the school which has 137 students on roll is fighting to overcome negative perceptions. Erharyu says some parents are in denial about their children’s blindness and do not want to send them to the Salvation Army School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

“Sometimes teachers recommend us to the parents but some parents insist on the child going to regular school. Sometimes they only come here at age 17 or 18 when they are too late to manage,” he noted.

Virginia Woods, executive director of the Jamaica Society for the Blind (JSB), concurred with the comments noting that many blind children go to regular schools on the insistence of their parents.

“People don’t want to face up to the fact that their child is blind. We went to Westmoreland once where an eight-year-old child was only seeing the blackboard just a little, and the parent said to leave her child because she is not blind,” Woods told Career & Education.

She said in the past the JSB had received help from the Child Development Agency to get blind children into the Salvation Army School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and to counsel their parents.

There are more than 23,000 legally blind persons in Jamaica, according to the 2001 Census.