DUSHANBE, February 4, 2009, Asia-Plus — Representative of the FORCE Foundation (The Netherlands) is currently in Tajikistan to get acquainted with state of local educational facilities for blind and visually impaired children and blind societies and their needs for further provision of them with necessary assistance, head of the Dushanbe branch of Tajikistan’s Blind Society, Kholmahamd Tengniyev, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
“On February 2, he visited the Dushanbe day school for blind and visually impaired children and yesterday, he visited the boarding school for blind and partially sighted children in Hissor,” Tengniyev said, noting that the FROCE representative’s visit to Tajikistan will last till February 5.
“Besides, a group of Iranian entrepreneurs expressing wish to provide assistance to Tajik blind and visually impaired people are currently in Dushanbe,” said Tengniyev, “They provided food assistance to the Dushanbe day school for blind and visually impaired children on Monday and donated a consignment of Braille books and notebooks to the children. Similar assistance was provided by them to the Hissor boarding school for blind and visually impaired children yesterday.”
A roundtable meeting formally titled “Education for Blind Children” is being held at Tajikistan’s Blind Society in Dushanbe today. The meeting participants include representatives from the Academy of Sciences, education reforms support center, Pulse, as well as guests from the Netherlands and St Petersburg, and representatives of a number of international organizations active in the country and media, Tengniyev said.
The FORCE Foundation (Stichting FORCE) was officially established in 1998. FORCE does not receive government grants and is dependent on financial support from a small number of private foundations, supplemented by grants and donations from other organizations, business and industry, and from individuals. The FORCE Foundation aims to provide a focal point for the exchange of ideas on accessibility with developing countries. Stichting FORCE is based in The Hague.
