The Faculty of Al-Alsun at Ain Shams University organized a celebration to honor blind students, where “ Rafik Al-Darb” Library in the faculty witnessed a ceremony honoring a number of outstanding blind students in the faculty, under the auspices of Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, President of the University, Prof. Dr. Abdel Fattah Saoud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty, and in the presence of Prof. Dr. Nasser Abdel Aal, Vice Dean for Education and Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. Ashraf Attia, Vice Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, Prof. Dr. Mohamed Al-Saghir, Chairman of the Board of the Spanish Language Department, Prof. Dr. Youmna Azmy, Professor of Spanish Language and Head of the Cultural Committee of the Faculty, Prof. Nahed Hammouda, Director General of the Faculty, Ms. Khadra Ghait, director of the Rafik Al-Darb Library.

Prof. Dr. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty, said that the faculty pays special attention to people with special abilities, and this step comes in line with the state’s 2030 strategic directions to empower people with special abilities in Egyptian society, praising the faculty’s presence of blind teaching assistants, who have proven their merit and superiority.

She explained that the blind students receive their lectures at the Rafiq Al-Darb Library, where the library receives the electronic version of the scientific materials sent by the faculty members and the supporting body via e-mail and sends them to the students, noting that the library for students who wish to print their scientific materials in Braille.

Prof. Dr. Nasser Abdel-Al, Vice Dean for Education and Student Affairs, said that the faculty’s education and student sector works according to an integrated system to provide distinguished services to students, especially students of determination, praising the efforts of “Rafik Al-Darb” Library in harnessing all its capabilities to help blind students in their studies at the college and after graduation.

He explained that throughout the academic year, the library prints the listening exams and the work of the year for undergraduate and graduate students in Braille, noting that the number of exams ranges from 100 to 120 throughout the semester.

Prof. Dr. Ashraf Attia, Vice Dean for Graduate Studies and Research Affairs explained that “Rafik Al-Darb” Library provides all services to blind students, with the aim of qualifying for self-reliance, throughout the years of study, without any need for external assistance, pointing out that the library has more than one scanner through which scientific materials are transferred of which there is no electronic copy on the computer, to be reviewed by faculty members, the supporting body, or some families.

In addition, there are two computer labs for people of determination that provide programs in all languages ​​that convert written content into spoken material, which helps blind students, whether at the undergraduate or postgraduate levels, to perform study and examination assignments with ease.

He added that several highly qualified specialists work in the library who spare no effort in helping blind students, including several faculty graduates.

In the end, Mr. Mahmoud Anwar, Teaching Assistant at the Spanish Language Department and holder of a master’s degree from the University of Granada in Spain last September, and Prof. Abanob Adel Abdullah, Teaching Assistant in the Russian Language Department, a team of students from “Rafik Al-Darb” Library, who passed a training course in body language and were awarded certificates of appreciation were honored.