SOUTH AFRICAN BRAILLE AUTHORITY
MINUTES
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 15-16 MAY 2014
Minutes of the meeting of the South African Braille Authority (SABA) held on 15 & 16 May 2014 at the South African Library for the Blind, 112B High Street, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
1 OPENING AND WELCOME BY THE SABA PRESIDENT AND THE DIRECTOR OF THE SALB
The meeting was started with the singing of the National Anthem. Thereafter the President of SABA, Mr Christo de Klerk, requested Mr Francois Hendrikz, the Director of the South African Library for the Blind (SALB), and host of the General assembly to address the meeting.
Mr Hendrikz extended a warm word of welcome to all the delegates present and expressed the hope that all persons present are members of the library. He said that hosting the General Assembly of SABA forms part of the 95th anniversary of the library and is part of the celebrations for the whole year. Although the library is an old institution that uses modern technology now, it was very proud of its heritage and it was proud to also host this meeting as part of the celebrations.
The events planned are all linked to the celebrations and include hosting of the SA Library Association, an arts and crafts exhibition from blind persons including creative and performing arts during the July arts festival, partaking in the books festival introducing the library to sighted people in Cape Town, and other events during the year.
Mr Hendrikz further expanded on the history of the library and how negotiations with the government were done in the early years compared to how it is done today. He said that we can learn from the older people that it is at times wise to start an action and then to later engage the government providing the proof that the original experiment did lead to a successful activity.
He wished SABA well in its early years and encouraged the members and leadership to keep going regardless of set-backs at times. He confirmed that the Library believes in braille and its future and there is no way in which this belief is to be changed in the foreseeable future regardless of the addition of modern audio and other forms of reading.
The sighted person is still fascinated with braille and therefore the existence of the Braille Authority is so important in promoting and establishing the standards, the rules and guidelines because this is how braille readers can communicate and read. The Library for the Blind is committed to promote braille in everything it does in expanding the braille collections. It is a worrying factor that the readership of braille products is far lower than that for audio. In his view this love of braille reading starts at school where promoting the use of the medium should be encouraged as far as possible. In research performed in the USA, it was found that younger persons in general, just do not read anymore. Therefore reading should be promoted amongst younger persons especially the braille reader.
He finally wished SABA well and expressed the wish that the conference will be productive.
The President of SABA wished the Library well during its 95th birthday celebrations and expressed its support for the work being done.
The President also welcomed all participants to the conference and said that SABA wants people to participate and carry out the message of braille.
2 PRESENT
A list of persons attending will be attached as annexure one.
3 APOLOGIES
Apologies for unavoidable absence were received from Mr D Greeff, Mr M Tshiovhe, the delegation from the Arthur Blaxall School, the delegation from Botswana and Ms Schoeman of the Department of Basic Education (DBE)
4 IN MEMORIAM
The names of Ms M Steyl, Ms A van Rooyen and a teacher from the Tshilidzini School who passed away since the last General Assembly were mentioned. A moment of silence was observed in memory of these persons.
5 CONFIRMATION OF THE AGENDA
It was noted that item 15.3, “supplements for SA languages – Ms Popplestone” should be moved to item 17, “Braille Codes in SA” as the item does not deal with “local Manuals” as indicated in item 15.
RESOLVED:
5.1 That the change proposed related to item 15.3 be noted and that the agenda as circulated be adopted after this adjustment.
6 ADOPTION OF MINUTES
The minutes of the General Assembly of SABA held on 3 and 4 October 2013 in Pretoria were circulated to all members and tabled for adoption.
RESOLVED:
6.1 That the minutes of the General Assembly held during October 2013 in Pretoria be adopted as a true record of the proceedings at that meeting.
7 FINANCE
7.1 Financial Report
The financial report for the period 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014 was circulated and presented to the membership for discussion.
RESOLVED:
7.1.1 That the financial report for the period ending 31 March 2014 as circulated be adopted by the meeting.
The President emphasised that, as can be seen, the funding of SABA or the lack thereof is of utmost importance and a way must be found to improve this situation.
7.2 Membership
The membership list and delegations as tabled was the status as on the closing date for registrations. Several late registrations were recorded on a later list circulated to the organising committee on 12 May 2014 but which was not used at the meeting.
The President emphasised that the braille stakeholders should be or get involved with the Authority. He encouraged delegations to spread the word to as many interested persons and institutions as possible.
Two aspiring braille producers were members during the previous year, but did not renew their membership or send delegations to the meeting. This is a sad state of affairs.
7.3 Fund raising efforts
Raising funds for the Authority is an ongoing struggle. Official requests and proposals to the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) have not had any success in securing funding for SABA. The braille report which was submitted almost two years ago has not led to any outcome except the movement of the report to the different departments. None of the many resolutions has been implemented to date.
Pete Osborne, former President of ICEB, proposed that SABA submit a proposal for roadshows to schools which can possibly be supported by ICEB in refunding the SABA membership fee to ICEB for this purpose. This has not materialised to date mainly because of the resignation of Mr Osborne as President of ICEB losing thereby his official support for the project.
The President appealed to members to please inform the Executive Committee of any possible fund raising activity they think the Executive Committee can embark upon.
On a question on how awareness for braille can be made a fund raising activity, the President said that awareness generally speaking is not a fund raising activity but can in the longer term make it easier to do fund raising.
It was proposed from the floor that the braille awareness day on 4 January each year, be extended to possibly be an awareness month in February or any other month when most people are back at home and at work. The President reminded members that there used to be a braille week during August where braille awareness was publicised. This could be used again in future years.
It was also suggested that the Executive could look at events being used in other ICEB countries and explained in the Country Reports to possibly implement some of these activities in South Africa.
7.4 Registration fees
The President reported that this matter has been on the agenda twice and still the Authority has problems getting some members to pay the registration fees.
He asked whether the members have a problem with the system and whether it should be changed to make it easier for all concerned.
It was suggested from the floor that the membership and registration fees should be combined as it was, especially for larger institutions, difficult to apply for payment three times per year.
Alternatively it was stated that some schools just cannot pay the annual membership fee plus the additional registration fees for two General Assembly meetings and, for some reason, then do not attend any or some of the meetings.
The meeting discussed these and other options and it was,
RESOLVED:
7.4.1 That the annual membership fee for SABA will increase to R490.00 for schools and R740.00 for other institutions and that this annual membership fee will include all registrations for two General Assembly meetings per year.
7.4.2 That the increased membership fees will apply from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016 (the financial year) and that registration fees will still have to be paid for the October 2014 General Assembly meeting.
8 ADVOCACY COMMITTEE
It was reported that the Advocacy Committee of SABA is up and running having already met on 28 September 2013 and 14 December 2013.
In terms of the Terms of Reference of the Advocacy Committee, the members of the Committee had to be elected at the next General Assembly or elective meeting in May 2014. The committee could not wait for this date and in the meantime elected Mr Netshituni as convener, and Mr de Klerk, Ms Donaldson, Mr Malatsi and Mr Moodley as members until the next election.
The meeting then nominated members for the Advocacy Committee of SABA and it was,
RESOLVED:
8.1 That Mr Netshituni will serve as convener of the Advocacy Committee and that Mr de Klerk, Ms Donaldson, Mr Moodley and Ms Roos will serve as members of the committee.
The Braille Cup competition was discussed to be used as an awareness tool and empowering purposes.
Further items including the marking of the different floors on the outside of lifts were discussed. The meeting was informed that the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) and the company installing lifts were already contacted both of which responded to the correspondence.
Further items discussed were the distribution of pamphlets and information documents during the proposed road shows etc. but all of this were still in very early stages of development.
During April 2014, the President was requested to present a paper during an ICT conference in Sekunda run by GS College. The paper presented, dealt with technology that could enhance the learning and teaching experience in the classroom and was part of the awareness for braille.
Unfortunately other participants spoke on the technology that will make braille redundant but this statement was opposed furiously during the presentation of the SABA President.
Members shared several awareness efforts to promote the knowledge and use of braille even in fun situations as part of literacy.
The President explained that, some time ago, the Advocacy Committee discussed the possibility to arrange a braille competition. This was intended to improve the quality of braille and to promote and increase awareness of braille.
The last such competition took place during the Louis Braille year. While thinking of arranging such a competition, the director of the SANCB contacted the President enquiring whether a Braille Cup competition could not be arranged in South Africa on the same scale as being done by the Perkins School in the USA. Blind SA, the SANCB and SABA then agreed to put the competition together. A handbook was already received from the USA. This competition will be far larger than the one run before and will consist of sections on writing an essay, testing fluent reading of braille, understanding of reading of braille material, correct writing/spelling etc.
The three organisations involved nominated persons to be involved in arranging the competition. The local leg of the competition must be concluded before October to be in time for the African leg of the competition.
To make it more competitive, attractive prizes will have to be offered.
In a meeting during March 2014 held with the Deputy Minister of the Department of Woman, Children and Persons with Disabilities (DWCPD), this contest was mentioned. The Deputy Minister showed a very keen interest in such a competition.
In answer to a question from the meeting regarding a similar competition for adult braille readers, the president said that, at present, the braille cup competition is for learners only but that the matter of involving adult readers of braille should be looked at in future.
9 THE QUALITY ASSURANCE STRUCTURE
The structure as proposed was set up and the guidelines were circulated. No further activities have taken place to date but it will be a very important structure in the future. It was planned to attend mainly to the standardisation of braille and all functions around this matter but first the Terms of Reference should be prepared and approved. Because of the absence of the Terms of Reference, the previously appointed persons on the committee will continue as for the lack of a Terms of Reference and instructions as to the election on the committee. More will be reported upon at the next General Assembly meeting.
10 ACCREDITED BRAILLE COURSE
The Optima College of the South African National Council for the Blind (SANCB) registered it as a Further Education and Training (FET) structure. This college is seeking SA Quality Authority (SAQA) accreditation for its various courses including the braille course. This accreditation is in process at present especially seeking compliance with various braille unit standards. This process is still in its early stages of development of the course. The SANCB is also inviting SABA to participate in the development process.
At present the process is to train braille facilitators and braille educators but this can change in future.