James Yelsong (right) was presented with a special award. Source: GNA
- Blind student receives special award after graduating with first class
- James Yelsong graduated with a Diploma in Basic Education (DBE)
25-year-old blind student, James Yelsong was one of three students who graduated with a first class in Diploma in Basic Education (DBE) from Nusrat Jahan Ahmadiyya (NJA) College of Education on Saturday.
Master Nelson received a special award during the teacher training college’s fourth congregation. Mr. Yelsong said he was “motivated and inspired” by his “bad background” and with his parents being poor yam farmers.
"Actually, we are twins and my twin brother is also visually-impaired, so I was determined and resilient to make a success story,” he said.
“I dreamed and actually wanted to achieve that dream and that is the story today,” he added. He expressed his gratitude and appreciation to his teachers for their support. Mr Yelsong agreed with the suggestion that educating the visually-impaired was very difficult in terms of resource mobilisation, saying: “In the first place we do not have textbooks in braille what we do is to depend wholly on the teachers”. “I have assistive devices, that is, a computer with a special programme that talks and reads everything in the computer,” he said.
About 359 students passed out in various academic fields covering technical, education, science, mathematics, languages and social studies.