Meet Amton‚ a man on a mission to help Joburg's visually impaired children

Somewhere in Johannesburg‚ a teacher painstakingly types out every single worksheet for each child in his class‚ making no use of a photocopy machine.

That teacher is Amton Mbangeni of the Johannesburg School for Blind‚ Low Vision and Multiple Disability in Auckland Park. This is his daily routine.

“When I have to do comprehensions‚ I have to rewrite them for those who use Braille so that when the other is reading their textbook‚ others can follow in Braille‚” said Mbangeni.

His classroom comprises some visually impaired children and some who may have full vision but sustained various burn injuries.

“My role is to adapt the syllabus for the blind kids and teach them how to write it in Braille. I teach from Grade R to Grade 7. The main curriculum for any other school is what I try to adapt for them‚” he said.

Mbangeni has been at this school since 2011.

One of the difficulties of working in a school for children who have special needs is the lack of resources.

“The machine to make copies for Braille is very expensive. It is too expensive‚” he told TimesLIVE.

Mbangeni’s qualification would allow him to teach in a mainstream school but he chose to specialise in teaching visually impaired children. He has no disabilities himself‚ neither does any of his children or relatives have a disability. This is his passion.

“I believe it is a calling. It is not for everyone‚” Mbangeni answered when asked why he chose this school.

“When I was growing up‚ I always wanted to be a science teacher or mechanic. I know I am good at maths and science. I feel that the way that I teach blind kids is in a technical way. It’s all hands-on and I also have a passion to help the disadvantaged.”

Inland government schools opened on Wednesday‚ while many private schools opened last week.

It was back to school for pupils at Mbangeni’s school from last week‚ but not all of them were in class when TimesLIVE visited on Tuesday afternoon.

Mbangeni said of the school’s pupils were not from the area but come from as far as Ekurhuleni and Soweto. They use the same scholar transport as some of the children attending mainstream schools in the area and therefore could not attend from the beginning of the term.

But this is only a small part of the school’s challenges. Homework is another.

“It costs about R13‚000 for one Braille machine and most of our blind kids are from poor families‚ so they cannot afford to buy the machine. If I give them homework‚ it’s very hard for them to follow up‚” Mbangeni said. But he tries his best to improvise. When he gives his blind pupils reading homework‚ for example‚ he types out their reading assignments in Braille.

“I write out the words in print for the parents to make it easy for them to assist the children‚” he said.

Mbangeni is proud of the work he has done.

Calling one of his learners into his classroom‚ he sits her down in front of a Braille-typed worksheet‚ plastered onto a cardboard. The learner is seven-year-old Gugu‚ a visually impaired pupil who came to the school a year ago.

Gugu had difficulty at her previous school‚ with teachers unable to understand why she was failing to grasp simple concepts such as recognising the number of fingers held up in front of her.

“Gugu can walk and all but she cannot see well and she suffered in a mainstream school until she came here and I taught her Braille and I discovered that Gugu is clever but they did not understand that she cannot see clearly.

“This girl could not write her name or anything… but when I introduced Braille to her‚ she was one of the fastest-learning kids.”

Gugu settled down at a desk in the classroom and‚ one by one‚ she went through the letters printed in Braille in front of her‚ reading them out loud. She then took to the Braille machine and typed out letters and numbers as per Mbangeni’s instructions‚ effortlessly getting each of them right.

Mbangeni removed the Braille machine and placed a piece of paper in front of little Gugu.

“Write your name here‚” he instructed her.

The little girl fidgeted on the paper and‚ a few seconds later‚ she reluctantly removed the hand she had used to cover the place where she was told to write her name.

There were little pencil scribbles‚ not even slightly resembling the letters of her name.

“If we don’t teach them‚ who will?” said Mbangeni.