المملكة: Includes the adoption of the Braille method .. A new list for evaluating students of visual disabilities

In a new regulation for evaluation of students with visual disabilities, the Ministry of Education stressed the need for the evaluation tools and methods used to be fully compatible with the sensory properties available to this group of students.
The Ministry indicated that the evaluation process must be mainly dependent on the senses that the student uses effectively, namely touch, hearing, and the remaining visual abilities, in order to ensure the achievement of the educational process goals in a fair and comprehensive manner commensurate with their needs and individual capabilities.

Student evaluation in the new regulations

According to the regulations, the evaluation tests of these students must be conducted using one or more methods that suit the nature of their disability; It is possible to use reading and writing in a “Braille” way for the blind, dependent on the oral style, or recording the test questions and enabling the student to answer them through technical means such as registration tapes or computer programs.
The regulation allowed the possibility of using a reader of sighted readers to help the student perform the test without this constituting an obstacle to his academic evaluation, with the possibility of visual visionary benefit from auxiliary visual means such as lenses, enlarged printing and electronic devices.

A special committee for each school

The regulation indicated that every school in which there is a program of integration for visual disability students must form a special committee concerned with evaluation work, and this committee includes in its membership the principal of the school or his representative as president, and the teacher of the competent subject, in addition to the specialist in translation to and from the “Braille” method, provided that this committee is formed before the tests for the start of the tests for a period of not less than two weeks.
The committee will undertake the tasks of preparing and preparing questions in the appropriate manner for each student according to his condition, whether in the way of “Braille” for the blind or using an enlarged line for the visual impairment, taking into account adapting the content of the questions according to the nature of the disability, without prejudice to the level of the test or its educational goals.
The regulation stressed the need to deal with the answers of the blind students with special care, as the written answers can be transferred in the “Braille” way to the regular line so that the teacher’s teacher can correct it, while maintaining the confidentiality of the content of the answers and ensuring justice in the evaluation.
She pointed out that the calendar questions must be unified with the questions of the rest of the students unless there is something that prevents it technically, and if the questions contain maps, tables or drawings that are difficult to transfer to “Braille”, the subject teacher must consult with the translation teacher to find appropriate alternatives.

Flexibility in student evaluation

The list stressed the importance of taking into account sufficient flexibility when evaluating the newly transferred students to special education programs, who are still in the stage of “Braille”, and their evaluation based on their level of acquisition of skills, with the need to adapt images and visual contents to suit them.
This regulation is one of the qualitative initiatives pursued by the Ministry of Education to achieve the principle of comprehensive integration, enhance equal opportunities among all groups of students, and ensuring that students of visual disability get their full right to a fair and appropriate evaluation, which contributes to supporting their educational journey and enhances their ability to academic progress and achieve success in an integrated and integrated educational environment.