By Sue-Ann Wayow

IN Trinidad and Tobago, 64 per cent of high school pupils have refractive errors that may require visual aids.

This was revealed by Registrar and CEO of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Dr Wayne Wesley.

Dr Wesley met with Intellectual Property experts, visually impaired persons and Heads of libraries at a World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) workshop in Port of Spain on Wednesday.

He informed them that the regional examinations body will make explicit in all contractual arrangements with publishers that CXC learning resources be produced in accessible, digital formats that are compatible with assistive technologies including braille and large print, a media release from CXC on Thursday stated.

Dr Wesley made an impassioned plea for educational publishers to produce books and learning resources in accessible formats, such as braille, large print, and digital formats, in keeping with the provisions of the Marrakesh Treaty, CXC stated.

The Marrakesh Treaty is an international agreement adopted in 2013 by WIPO, aimed at making published works more accessible to people who are blind, visually impaired, or print disabled.

Dr Wesley said, “CXC will make it a requirement for all authors to indicate their support for the provision of the Marrakesh Treaty. Priority and preference will be given to authors who demonstrate this support when selecting prescribed or recommended texts for our syllabuses.”

He said there was a growing need for accessibility by exam candidates across the region, noting that Special Arrangement Assessment (SAA) requests had increased this year.

“Recent studies show that among Caribbean children aged five to 16, more than 0.1% are blind, and up to 0.3% have low vision. In Barbados, 2.4% of children under 18 have visual impairment, while in Trinidad and Tobago, 64% of high school students have refractive errors that may require visual aids”, shared Dr Wesley.

“Hearing impairment is also present, with a Jamaican study showing a 4.9% prevalence among young students. Each statistic represents a child whose educational journey depends on our commitment to accessibility. We cannot afford to let them down!” Dr Wesley said.

He said CXC will actively advocate through ministries of education across the Caribbean for the adoption of the Marrakesh Treaty, encouraging regional governments to sign and implement the Treaty.

CXC is also committing to conducting training and sensitisation sessions for secondary school educators, equipping them with the knowledge and tools to support accessible learning and to advocate for the needs of visually impaired and print-disabled students.

“At CXC, we will continue to adopt new approaches and technologies to enhance accessibility to our examinations, ensuring that all candidates regardless of ability, can participate fully and fairly,” Dr Wesley promised.

He said, “Accessible books and exam materials are not just a legal or ethical requirement, they are a moral imperative, unlocking the full potential of the (Marrakesh) Treaty, will empower visually impaired persons and all learners to read, learn, and thrive.”

Executive Officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Blind Welfare Association (TTBWA) Kenneth Surratt said the association was pleased with the move.

The association was part of the three-day workshop.

He said Trinidad and Tobago was a leader in making books more accessible for the blind, having signed on to the treaty, amended copyright laws and was in process of converting printed books into accessible formats.

Surratt said soon persons in the Caribbean will have access to more than one million books in converted format so they could either read or listen to with books either in braille, large print and different colour contrast.

He told AZP News on Thursday, “We are trying to end the book famine because ten to 15 years ago, only five per cent of printed material was in an accessible format.”

Surratt said, “I am so happy because as a child going to school you read books that people give you. With the new system, you can read books that you want to read.”

While he could not speak about the 64% mentioned by Dr Wesley, Surratt said at TTBWA, there were about 100 children under the age of 16 receiving services from the association.

He said coming out of Covid-19 when learning was mostly virtual, many children developed problems with sight as many did not practice the 20-20-20 rule where every 20 minutes, you look away from the screen for 20 seconds at something at least 20 feet away.

“It is just like training a muscle, you need to exercise your eye. Take that 20-20-20 break and it will help.”

Surratt also spoke about the laptop distribution programme which commenced on Thursday.

He said about three visually impaired children may be receiving laptops and he is hoping that the laptops have the special accessibility features for the low vision children to use such as textbooks and for persons who are blind – a refreshable braille display which is an electro-mechanical device that connects to a computer or mobile device to convert text into a dynamic braille display, allowing visually impaired users to read text through touch.

Those specifics were requested of the government and Surratt said he was given the assurance that the needs of the visually impaired would be met as much as possible to ensure equitable learning.