Vodacom Lesotho, through its Vodacom Lesotho Foundation, has donated M300,000 to St Bernadette Resource Centre for the Blind. The handover of the cheque was made on the centre’s premises this week.
St Bernadette Resource Centre for the Blind has been an educational shelter for children living with disability for 54 years.
It is dedicated to promoting inclusive education for children living with disabilities to help level the playing field of opportunities, ensuring that children are not left behind as far as granting them the right to learn.
The centre has a total of 6 teachers, a nurse and a social worker caring for the first and second graders and is attached to the third grade, St Bernadette Primary School.
It offers lessons on life skills, mobility, and orientation for the visually impaired, accommodating both girls and boys from ages 6 to 18.
When receiving the cheque, the centre’s headmaster, ‘MamoliehiTamako, said the centre is very challenging to run as the children require extensive attention and care.
“Our main target as the school is to prepare the children to a point of setting them up to be fully independent from the point they graduate from us,” she said.
In this mission they have set up for themselves, she mentioned that some factors come into play to make the task daunting, adding that “The challenge we have is the size of the site, which is limited. This becomes evident when more students are admitted into the school.”
She further hinted that one other challenge is that the centre has no playing grounds.
“Games are very essential in both the growth of the body and mind for a child,” emphasised.
Among other challenges, Tamako stipulated that there are children who have, beyond blindness, other disabilities. Other challenges include children who are not going to school as well as children who drop out of school.
The dropout prevalence as she explained, is most common among the students who have combined disabilities.
“The cause of this is typically because parents lack an understanding of the condition of their children. These parents tend to have expectations that are traditional to school learn, which they hope to see being portrayed by their child: to read and write. Should they not see these attributes prevail, they assume there is no development in the child’s education without taking note that these children have acquired other habits and skills like better hygiene and better communication skills,” she said.
Tamako further challenged the education system, especially in higher learning, to review how students are fed education, citing that at the centre and other schools that care for children living with blindness, oral examinations and assessment were used; however, this method of approach is yet to be adopted at the tertiary level, hence limiting these students from furthering their studies.
The M300 000 donation is a reinforcement of Vodacom Lesotho Foundation’s commitment towards inclusive education.
The handover marked the latest phase of a multi-year partnership launched in 2022, directly aligning with education, access and inclusion; the three pillars of the foundation’s social investment strategy.
This funding provides vital support at a critical time for the Centre, which has been navigating significant operational challenges, exacerbated by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Executive Head Regulatory & External Affairs at Vodacom Lesotho, Tšepo Ntaopane, emphasised that one of the core beliefs of the company is that every child, irrespective of whether they have disability or not, deserves equal opportunity to education.
“We are determined to assist in the development of other resource centres for children living with disabilities.”
To show and lead by example in the inclusion of people living with disabilities in various fields, Ntaopane announced that the company has committed itself to being diverse and absorbing people with special needs as part of the company staff.
He further reiterated that the inclusion should be taken a step further and be visible even in the development of products and devices used on a day-to-day basis to make it easier for them to be used by everyone, people living with disabilities included.
In the absence of the Minister of Education and Training, the initiative was commended by Ratšiu Majara, who addressed witnesses at the handover, saying, “It is such a heartfelt gesture to see companies like Vodacom Lesotho showing commitment like this. We have also, as the ministry, injected the sum of M200 000 earlier this year towards this school to see into its development. Seeing private companies and the government sharing the same vision sparks hope for a brighter future.”
Majara expressed that he has been witness to seeing how devoted people living with disabilities become in workplaces, excelling in their tasks.
He added that not only should traditional education be placed as a measure of achievement for them, as a good deal of them have portrayed that they possess talents which he challenged they should be invested in.
The centre has succeeded in having an alumni of over 20 graduates who are assigned to various fields. Its pupils also participate in regional and international sporting events while a suite of self-reliance projects, including agriculture and livestock initiatives, fosters entrepreneurial acumen.
To keep the momentum going, the Vodacom Lesotho Foundation has vowed to install Wi-Fi connections starting this coming week, as well as injecting a further M900 000 over the next 3 years.
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