On 16 October, the Committee of Blind Women of Kosova held in their office in Prishtina the last advocacy meeting in the framework of the project titled “More rights for blind women”. This meeting was attended by 10 blind women and men, members of CBWK, Mr. Halil Kurmehaj – Legal Advisor, Ms. Vlora Hoti – Political Advisor to the Cabinet of the Minister of Education, Science and Technology and two representatives of Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN).
As part of the implementation of its four-month project, CBWK organized various awareness-raising activities to better inform the society on the needs and rights of blind persons to education. At the end of all campaigns of awareness-rising and trainings with members of this committee, the demands and needs of blind persons concerning their education have been summarized and presented to the representative of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology during the last advocacy meeting.
The meeting was opened by Ms. Bajramshahe Jetullahu, director of CBWK, who shared with the attendees all the difficulties faced by blind persons in education. “Although our law guarantees equal rights to everyone, this is not being implemented. Blind persons face numerous difficulties during their education at all levels. First of all, given that there is only one school for educating blind and visually impaired persons, located in Peja, you can easily think of the difficulties faced by parents of blind children and how and to what extent they are limited by the fact that children from all across Kosovo have at their disposal only one city where suitable education for them is provided. It is precisely for this reason that most children do not accomplish any education. In addition, a great challenge is posed by the lack of Braille-written literature, thereby causing students to lag behind leading to them quitting education.”
Ms. Vlora Hoti – Political Advisor to the Cabinet of the Minister of Education, Science and Technology said that since the beginning of the new mandate of Minister Shyqir Bytyqi, the structure and responsibility of this cabinet have been rearranged and that she will be the contact person for non-governmental organizations. She also emphasized that she would undertake to research and assess the extent to which the education institutions are equipped with typhlotechnic and typhlodidactic equipment, where and what literature uses Braille, relieve writing, enlarged letters, and texts in acoustical and digital technology. She also expressed her willingness and availability for anything she could help with.
This project was supported by the Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF) of the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) and funded by the EU Office in Kosovo.
