Sunday 12th August (Part 1)

This morning we set off to visit CDD (Centre for Disability in Development), a community based rehabilitation (CBR), education and low vision partner. CDD provide all the special needs training for both education and CBR in Bangladesh, and are funded by Sightsavers to provide training in the visual impairment aspects of CBR for CBR workers. In addition to providing training, CDD provide many of the Braille books for schools, and offer a low vision service.

The quality was very high, although all the training was provided in Dhaka, which meant CBR workers and teachers had to travel from all over Bangladesh. The CBR course was three months long, which must lead to recruitment issues. They are hoping to open two new centres in other parts of the country soon. I was pleased to hear that several of the trainers at the centre, and a number of CBR workers, were blind.

There is no concept of an itinerant teacher (trained to identify and give special assistance to blind and low vision pupils) in Bangladesh – they train class teachers and resource teachers (who provide expertise for all pupils with special needs at a single school). There is a standardised Bangladeshi version of Braille, but children are taught English Braille first as apparently this is easier, before moving on to Bangla Braille. There is an increasing demand for Braille texts, which is putting a strain on CDD who rely on a single heavy duty Braille printer.