World Braille Day
The CHRC recalls the importance of Braille
The Cameroon Human Rights Commission (CHRC) did not over look the World Braille Day, celebrated on 4 January 2024. In addition to the Statement and visuals published and disseminated on this occasion, Professor James Mouangue Kobila, CHRC Chairperson requested its officials to visit the Yaoundé headquarters of the Association Promotion des Handicapés du Cameroun (PROMHANDICAM) and the Club des Jeunes Aveugles Réhabilités du Cameroun(CJARC) on the same day.
The main objectives of these visits were to join them in celebrating the World Braille Day. It was also an opportunity to disseminate among this educational community the 4 January 2024 Statement of the CHRC, as well as the transcribed English and French versions in Braille, and raise awareness on the importance of this means of communication.
During the visit at the PROMHANDICAM headquarters, Mr. Pierre Tsopfack, Director of the Inclusive school, in a friendly atmosphere, praised the CHRC Chairperson’s initiative and seized the opportunity to ask for more support to ensure the proper guidance of learners and the staff would particularly like to have more Braille textbooks. Ms. Raïssa Gangni, one of the staff members of CJARC also reiterated the plea for more teaching and learning materials in Braille.
The availability of these learning tools is one of the main recommendations made by the Chairperson of the CHRC to the Ministries in charge of Education in his Statement signed on 2 January 2024.
The CHRC Officials were reassured to observe that several parents are enrolling their children with disabilities in schools and strongly encourage all other parents with such children to take similar action.
CJARC has an inclusive school, as recommended by the CHRC, with a student body of nearly 400 students. PROMHANDICAM has 250 learners.
Mr. Guy Armand Essery Azom, the Head of CHRC Centre Branch and Gabriel Nonetchoupo, the Head of the Promotion Unit, gave a copy of the English and French versions of the Statement to mark World Braille Day transcribed in Braille to the heads of these two organisations. These officials were also reminded of the benefits of the toll-free hotline, 1523, to report any human rights violations. This initiative received a resounding round of applause and encouragement.
It is worth noting that in its published Statement, the CHRC points out that the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled, adopted on 27 June 2013, entered into force on 30 September 2016 and ratified by Cameroon on 27 April 2021, obliges States to ‘ensure that published works and books are produced in accessible formats, including Braille’.
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