THE Mandaue City Government has partnered with a private firm to help visually impaired students.
Mayor Jonas Cortes signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with representatives of KGS Philippines Corp. on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, for the latter to lend a braille display or braille terminal, which is an electro-mechanical device for displaying braille characters, usually by means of round-tipped pins raised through holes in a flat surface.
Visually impaired users who cannot use a standard computer monitor use it to read text output (Wikipedia).
The signing of the MOA took place at the public library in Barangay Centro.
Under the agreement, the City borrows one unit of KGS Philippines’ Memo Smart Braille Display BMS40, and it will use the device for a year to check its quality.
The borrowed Smart Braille is at the Mandaue City Public Library (MCPL). The City will end using the device in June 2023.
MCPL head Angelina Cagatulia said the device is a huge help to many visually impaired individuals, including students.
She said the City and MCPL planned to buy braille display devices in 2019, but they did not push through with it because KGS lacked supporting documents back then.
The city has registered about 157 visually impaired residents, and two of them started their training in using the device last July 15.
The training is free, and relatives of visually impaired individuals may set a training schedule with MCPL at any time, said Cagatulia.
MCPL office aide Roland Christopher Faelnar, one of the two trainees, said the system is easy to use as it features two languages (English and Cebuano) that help him operate the computer well.
Cagatulia said if the device is proven to be effective in helping the visually impaired people in the city, the City Government will possibly purchase at least two units from KGS right after its agreement with KGS expires.