The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) is working towards creating inclusive educational environments through programming and robotics training for teachers who teach visually impaired students. This initiative is part of the Teacher Union Collaboration (TUC) program, which aims to supplement the Ministry of Basic Education by equipping teachers with the necessary skills for a changing world.
Sadtu has joined forces with Bona Africa to provide programming and robotics training for visually impaired and partially sighted teachers, regardless of their access to vision. The training was initially dedicated to nearly 16,000 teachers in general schools and has now been expanded to teachers working with visually impaired and partially sighted students.
To facilitate the training, the Curtis Nkondo Professional Development Institute and Ubuntu Africa, operating under Sadtu, have organized a series of 16 workshops that will take place in September in all nine provinces of the Republic of South Africa. The workshops have already been successfully conducted in special schools in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, and Northern Cape provinces.
Through training teachers from schools for the visually impaired and partially sighted in programming and robotics, Sadtu aims to promote the qualitative development of an education system that is accessible to all students. This training not only enables teachers to acquire new skills but also opens up a world of possibilities for visually impaired and partially sighted learners.
The training content is provided by Bona Africa, a joint venture between Tangible Africa and Bona uBuntu. Teachers receive training and supporting materials that are accessible to visually impaired individuals, including tactile markers and materials in Braille alphabet. Bona Africa, in collaboration with other teacher unions in the Republic of South Africa, actively works towards reducing the digital divide and making programming more inclusive for young individuals with visual impairments.
Sadtu and Bona Africa will organize workshops at Birchwood Hotel in Ekurhuleni to demonstrate this training and its benefits. This joint initiative between Sadtu, Bona Africa, and other interested parties represents a significant step towards creating an inclusive educational system in the Republic of South Africa.
