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.

7FINANCE

7.1Financial 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:

7.4.1That 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.

7.4.2That 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:

8.1That 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.

The meeting was informed that in the current unit standards, there is a phrase that reads This does not apply to industrial braille. This is interpreted as being braille produced by printing presses. This can be an opportunity to train braille proof readers and other braille workers including transcribers and alike.

The current unit standards are obviously very out of date according to some items it refers to and must still be updated to accommodate UBC.

SABAs involvement in the process was then discussed and it was proposed that Mr Deena Moodley, Mr Eric Gama and Ms Pasha Alden with their combined knowledge on the SAQA standards, developing courses, instruction etc. be involved with the SANCB process.

Blind SA then remarked that it has two accredited assessors and moderators employed and that the unit standards used were a more recent version than what was referred to earlier. Blind SA is in the process of developing course material based on this version of the unit standards but that even these standards have to be further updated.

It was then asked whether the envisaged training at the Optima College should only concentrate on the training of facilitators and educators and whether it should include the courses for the braille workers employed in the production of braille. It was emphasised that accredited courses are required by educators today and full accreditation can just benefit all in the braille field.

RESOLVED:

10.1 That Mr D Moodley, Ms T Smith, Mr E Gama and Ms P Alden will serve in the team already set up by the SANCB to establish all aspects of the SAQA accreditation and unit standards related to braille.

11 EDUCATION

The President commented that an invitation to attend the General Assembly meeting was already circulated to the DBE during March 2014. The invitation included the agenda which allowed for reporting on the DBEs actions to the SABA General Assembly. This invitation was again repeated a week prior to the meeting but a written report was only provided to the Secretariat on the day the meeting started.

The meeting learnt on the second day of the meeting that Mr Makhathala will represent the DBE and not Ms Schoeman as expected.

It was a very unfair action of the DBE to subject Mr Makhathala to such strain to report on a document presented to him the day before, not giving him enough time to prepare for his presentation on the items on the agenda.

Mr Makhathala explained that the delivery of accessible learning and teaching support material to all schools for the visually impaired learners was explained to the director involved. It was agreed at this meeting that the director will check with all the schools to establish their needs. This was to be done during 2014.

It was also agreed that the DBE will provide BrailleNote Apex devices to all the schools, at least in the Gauteng Province on which the textbooks and other material that the learners require will be loaded.

The meeting expressed its shock on the proposed system. While the DBE was in the process of trying to go the electronic braille route without the agreement and advice of the Braille Authority of South Africa, learners up to grade 12 was still sitting without their textbooks outright violating the rights of learners in South Africa.

Mr Makhathala told the meeting that he was informed that some textbooks were transcribed into braille by the Pioneer Printers and that they could directly purchase the required books from the Pioneer Printers.

The meeting was further informed that the Pioneer Printers received the go ahead from the Western Cape Provincial Education Department to print the books, mainly English, Afrikaans and Mathematics books just to get some of the textbooks to the learners. Some other schools also reported that they managed to buy some of these books with sponsorship from the Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.

11.1 Capacity Building Programme of the DBE

No discussions.

11.1.1 Teacher Training in Grade 1 Braille as Part of Capacity Building

It was again stated that this training was initially planned from 2011 when the then Minister of Basic Education directed that all teachers at special schools should know braille by 2014. Since then various meetings and submissions have been put forward but still nothing has happened. The meeting expressed its disgust with this situation and said that this was one of the issues that have now been taken to the Section 27 group of lawyers for equal education.

11.1.2 Grade 2 Braille Teacher Training

No further discussions.

11.2School Textbooks in Braille

It was reported that a tender was issued by the DBE to all braille producers for the printing of braille textbooks. The tender requirements were however so harsh as to make it impossible for one producer to meet the requirements set out. The result was that no tenders were submitted to the DBE.

At a later stage, the DBE informed Blind SA that it will supply it with a list of textbooks required and that it will supply the order numbers for the production of the books. Braille Services employed more staff to be able to meet this new capacity. The latest promise for orders was received during April 2014, but with no outcome so far.

Blind SA, the SANCB and SABA eventually resolved to take the matter to Section 27, a group of lawyers standing for equal education. This can lead to an action of taking the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to Court on this matter of the provision of textbooks in braille.

Section 27 engaged with the DBE for a meeting to discuss the matter but no response was so far received from the DBE. It was now decided to enter into litigation.

The meeting was clear in stating again that a braille reading learner cannot be taught properly and given homework to do because the learner can only do it if textbooks were available. This was confirmed by a teacher present in the meeting.

It was also confirmed by the meeting that a teacher who does not know braille, cannot teach a learner to read or write meaningfully. It was also asked what other methods exist to teach a braille reading learner.

RESOLVED:

11.2.1That the following questions be put to the SABA General mailing list for feedback from list members but especially from teachers i.e.

1. Can a learner be given homework to do if no textbook in braille is available to prepare the homework from?

2. Can a teacher not knowing braille at all teach a learner to read and write meaningfully, and

3. Are there ways of teaching a braille reading learner without the use of textbooks at the disposal of the learner?

The meeting agreed that the message Mr Makhathala should take back to the DBE is that the braille sector wants to see appropriate action, not reports and submissions; if no action is forthcoming, litigation will follow.

12 MUSIC BRAILLE

12.1Music List

It was reported that little activity is seen on the music list. List members requested that the mailing list be maintained regardless of the little activity on it.

A list of names was received from the South African Braille Music Library and those without e-mail addresses will be contacted by telephone to enquire on their interest in such a mailing list.

Guidelines for the contents of the list will have to be prepared. This discussion is ongoing.

It was also suggested that the Advocacy Committee in its activities, try to make members and interested parties aware of the existence of the Braille Music List.

13 INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON ENGLISH BRAILLE (ICEB)

13.1 Resignation of ICEB President

The President reported that the President of ICEB, Mr P Osborne, had to resign as President of ICEB because of a retrenchment. This in effect meant that the Vice-President, Mr de Klerk, had to stand in and chair the upcoming mid-term ICEB Executive meeting to be held in New Zealand.

13.2 ICEB Executive Committee meetings

Since the previous SABA General Assembly meeting in October 2013, two ICEB Executive telephone conferences were held.

13.3 Code Maintenance Committee

(See Ms Bothas report as Annexure Two)

(Also see Phyllis Landons tribute to Ms Antonnette Botha below as Annexure Three)

13.4 Refreshable Braille Committee (now the Braille Technology Committee)

It was reported that the original charge was to collaborate with the Transforming Braille Project which is a joint project between the RNIB and the DAISY Consortium to develop a low cost braille display and to cooperate with them. It was recommended that ICEB make a donation of $5,000 to the project to assist with the development.

The ICEB Secretary serves on the Transforming Braille Project as well as being an observer on the Refreshable Braille Committee. It was decided that this person will serve as a link between the Refreshable Braille Committee and the Transforming Braille Project.

Due to confidentiality issues, feedback to the committee was difficult with this arrangement and cooperation could not be on the level anticipated. As far as can be ascertained, a prototype of the new refreshable device will be available close to the end of 2015 or soon thereafter. No further information was available.

The Braille Blaster which is a free braille translation tool, is still under development and seems to be a very sophisticated tool when finished.

Lately the development of the iOS7, the latest operating system for iPhone and its braille support driver to be used with braille displays has serious braille issues. Correspondence was prepared to be submitted to the Apple Company explaining what the problem was and suggesting fixes for it.

It was also reported that Braille Back and access to braille displays, exist for Android devices. It has been tested and found to be very slow with further development required. Communications will be forwarded to the Android developers via a generally circulated mailing list.

It was also reported that many braille support related issues of the past were corrected with the latest JAWS version 15 just released. Also that the latest upgrade of the Victor Reader Stream now accommodates braille support.

13.5 Braille Music Committee

It was reported that the signs for flat sharp and natural as in music, have now been assigned for context outside of music.

There are also discussions on possibly revising the braille music manual which has last been revised in 1996. It was however suggested that this task may be beyond the scope of ICEB and that it should be done by BANA and UKAAF with possible inputs from the ICEB Braille Music Committee.

13.6 Public Relations Committee

It was reported that, to date, there has been no activity initiated by this committee. At the next mid-term meeting of the Executive of ICEB, the activities of all subcommittees will be discussed to see whether the structure should be changed or not.

13.7 Training and Implementation Materials Committee

Since the previous General Assembly meeting held in October 2013, the updated versions of the documents on the Unified English Braille (UEB), has been received from the Australian publishers. Since 2006, Australia has worked vigorously to ensure that learning materials are kept up to date with the latest developments of the UEB itself. This followed on the original Primer published by the Australians and now updated after the release of the UEB Rulebook in 2013.

This updated manual now replaces all earlier publications including the primer circulated to schools. Persons interested in this latest manual are welcome to contact the committee or Ms Bam to obtain further information.

It was also suggested that the manuals prepared could also be used to compile the training courses for the new Optima FET college and the training of braille workers in the braille industry.

The representative on this committee was requested to enquire with other member countries on their own development of training material to possibly be used in South Africa.

13.8 Signage Committee

It was reported that very little activity has taken place internationally on this committee.

Locally some work was done with the SA Bureau for Standards (SABS), but even this is very slow because of the structures of the institutions concerned.

The Committee reported that some basic medication is now coming out with some braille printed on the packaging. This is a small beginning but still positive.

It was however reported that a company did present samples of brailled packaging to the SANCB for their approval and further advice.

13.9 Certification Committee

Again it was reported that nothing has happened during the last two years. The South African representatives were not even sure that they were part of the mailing list as enquiries to the list bounced back to them. The President said that even this will come under discussion at the mid-term meeting of the Executive of ICEB.

13.10 Upcoming Midterm ICEB Executive Committee Meeting

The Chairperson explained that, as explained above, he had to stand in as President of ICEB for the remainder of the term of office. This meant that he could not represent South Africa as member anymore and a new representative for South Africa had to be found.

A new member at large was therefore co-opted by means of nominations and voting on the SABA General mailing list. In this process Mr Netshituni was elected and would ideally also attend the midterm meeting as the representative from South Africa and member at large of the Executive.

Funding was applied for with the Department of Arts and Culture and to re-allocate the funding from him to Mr Netshituni as the cost of the President of ICEB was paid for by the Executive Committee.

When it was found that Mr Netshituni had two ID documents, a passport could not be issued for him in time to travel to New Zealand.

13.10.1Date and Venue

The Chairperson informed the meeting that the ICEB, the international standards setting body for English Braille, meets every four years at a physical meeting where all member countries send representations too. The last one was held during May 2012 in South Africa. In the middle of this term of four years, a physical midterm meeting is held. Further meetings are held every three months by telephone conference. The next midterm Executive Committee of ICEB will be held in Auckland, New Zealand from 22 to 24 May 2014.

13.10.2 The future of ICEB

The chairperson explained that a closed session is to be held to discuss the future of ICEB as the main activity to date was the development of the UEB. Apart from the maintenance of the code, this has now been finalised.

Some individuals view the work of ICEB now done and that only the Code Maintenance Committee should continue but equally there are others who feel that the structure should continue as at present.

13.10.3 Matters to be referred to the meeting

From the floor it was suggested that some of the ICEB committees can combine their activities; that the conveners who do not deliver outcomes be replaced; that the public relations of ICEB be done on a more professional basis internally involving large public relations companies to assist with the braille sector thereby providing the necessary information; that ICEB continue to operate but within the proposed changed structure above.

14 UNIFIED BRAILLE CODE

14.1Training presented since the last meeting

Blind SA reported that Ms Smith has done training in the North West provinces as well as for a large group of teachers. She is constantly busy with training of individuals and at some schools.

It was also reported that, with a recent visit to the Limpopo province, it was found that many individuals have never heard of UBC and still writes braille as they were taught when at school. This is apparently the same situation in the Kroonstad area.

RESOLVED:

14.1.1 That the matter of the shortage of training in various rural areas be referred to the Executive Committee to see if trainers cannot be found to service the identified areas where training of UBC is required.

It was further noted that, although the University of Venda enquired regarding braille training they wanted to introduce, the University went ahead and arranged training in braille of which the quality is unsure.

RESOLVED:

14.1.2 That the training done at the University of Venda be referred to the Executive Committee of SABA for further investigation and or action.

Members enquired on the availability of training material in general and they were informed of the various sets of material already discussed and others available from the Training and Implementation Materials Committee of ICEB. Enough reading material was now available published in UBC including several magazines being published on a monthly basis.

The statement was made from the floor that information was not available wherein it can be established that all schools teach the correct standard and grade of braille. Some reporting is received by the Executive of SABA after visits performed by the Braille Consultant but more detailed investigations can be done to establish exactly what is happening at all schools.

It was therefore suggested that a register be initiated to establish the level of braille training at all south African Schools so that this information can be used as a negotiation tool with the education department and other structures in the sector.

RESOLVED:

14.1.3 That the Executive Committee of SABA initiate and drive an investigation into the training of braille at all schools in South Africa and that this information then be used to plan further action by SABA.

The Braille Consultant did raise the point that, in the answer papers returned to the SALB after the braille examinations, it was found that many schools do use UBC but that the quality is at times very poor. The meeting agreed that general accreditation of training and trainers will go far to address the current problem.

14.2 Reading Material for Beginners

A large volume of material has been transcribed into UBC and all current material is being printed in this way since the official acceptance of the UBC standard.

14.3 Usage of the Unified Code

It was reported that two of the printing works for braille have had requests for examination papers to be printed in pre-unified braille, especially for some subjects. It was however explained that these requests were mainly for adults who do not know UBC but still had to do examinations.

The meeting agreed that even this will have to have a cut-off date and it was,

RESOLVED:

14.3.1 That all examination papers and other material including technical material, be produced in UBC as from January 2015, and

14.3.1.1That SABA will issue a notice regarding the former to be circulated to all persons and institutions on its database.

15. LOCAL MANUALS

15.1Hands On

Members expressed their appreciation for this very valuable manual being used widely nowadays

15.2 Ses Punte 21

Ms Botha reported that Miss Aucamp is very frail, that she has been bed-ridden for the past six months, and that meaningful communication is hardly possible. SABA officially requested Miss Botha to take over the work on Ses punte 21. Since we have no other manual for older beginners to learn Afrikaans braille, and because she had promised Miss Aucamp that she would see to it that Ses punte 21 be completed and published if Miss Aucamp should no longer be able to do it herself, she accepted the responsibility. She said that currently her priority is to help complete the work on the Afrikaans supplement to the rules of UBC, and that ses punte 21 will be her next priority. She has already done some preliminary work with the help of Mrs Lettie van Niekerk by sorting half-finished work. She reminded the meeting that the first four volumes, albeit in a provisional edition, are already available from Pioneer Printers, which can be used to learn grade 1 braille and the major part of the Afrikaans contractions.

15.3 Supplements for SA languages

It was agreed by the meeting that this heading should rather be Other manuals for SA Languages

It was reported that work was done on other manuals which are at different stages of completion.

The Zulu manual was written and presented to teachers and others for proofreading. Several errors were found and are in the process of being corrected.

A guide for the use of Zulu Braille is being updated from pre unified code to UBC. Several other similar reference guides are in the process of being written but have not been completed yet.

15.4 Manual for beginners by Ms Smith

The meeting noted that various previous reports have been tabled on this publication but reporting on the same stage as at present with no real progress. The Chairperson explained that some of the delay was due to Ms Botha having agreed to assist with the proofreading and other tasks but that her very full schedule has not given her enough time to do this work.

Most of the further discussions from the floor about the book was recorded at such a low level that it was impossible to piece together enough thereof to make sense to the reader.

16 AN INVESTIGATION INTO BRAILLE RELATED MATTERS

At the previous General Assembly meeting of SABA in Pretoria, Mr Kekana of the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) explained that the investigation funded by the DAC is still in the process to be assessed by all the Government Departments concerned. No further progress can be reported and no outcomes have been implemented to date.

17 BRAILLE CODES IN SOUTH AFRICA

17.1 Uncontracted Braille

No discussions.

17.2 Grade 2 Braille (All Languages)

On a question on the use of the circumflex sign in Sesotho coming from different areas, the President said that it was up to the users of the language to say which they prefer and then the tables will be adjusted accordingly.

17.2.1 Afrikaans Braille rules

(See report from Ms Popplestone below as Annexure Four)

18. BRAILLE CUP COMPETITION

(See item 8. Advocacy for the discussions on this item.)

19. BRAILLE EXAMINATIONS

It was reported that, compared to the previous years examination process, the examinations went very well with no major problems. Prizes for the best results were provided by the SALB and handed to all recipients.

The quality of braille written ranged from very good to very poor. The majority of schools entered UBC braille but three schools still used the pre-unified system.

The process for the higher braille competition is on track and will be written soon.

The meeting thanked the SALB for taking over this very important task in the interest of the promotion of braille.

20. BRAILLE CONSULTANCY

The consultancy visited two schools in the last quarter where educators were very passionate about their work. Skills of teaching braille are limited and educators are concerned that they do not train braille in the correct manner. This does not only concern the code but also matters like hand positioning, hand movement and tracking, and tactile discrimination.

The two schools use UBC but some revision was necessary. At one school learners were even encouraged to use the small school library. This was very encouraging.

It was recommended that some formal training of educators should be considered.

Advice and support was given on a daily basis concerning all matters on braille.

It was also reported that the SALB constantly adds to its collection of tactile titles with a further 18 titles added recently.

21. LOUIS BRAILLE BULLETIN

The latest bulletin was already in its draft form and will contain standard features and other interesting items. Further information will be given on the availability of the latest translation tables and the results of the various braille examinations.

22. DUXBURY BRAILLE TRANSLATOR

22.1Table Development/Maintenance

Work was done on the print to braille and braille to print Afrikaans tables implementing the latest rules. A test table was made available for users to test but no comments or suggestions were received to date. The latest Duxbury update will be available soon.

The unified tables for Swati and Ndebele were made. Some errors were identified and need to be rectified.

The Tsonga table has been developed, but still needs testing before it can be distributed.

The tables for Swati and Ndebele are also now included in DBT 11.2 sr1.

There is a problem with the Venda table, but this has been addressed.

The tables for Xhosa and Zulu were also worked on and the contraction for ND should now contract correctly in a word like Ndlovu.

23. MASS LITERACY CAMPAIGN

The Kha Ri Gude Programme was ongoing but with no further discussions

RESOLVED:

23.1 That this will be a recurring item.

24. SAQA

This item was discussed under item 10, Accredited Braille Course.

25. SPECIAL COMMITTEES

25.1 Braille Maths

The maths mailing list has been active for some time but with no activity at all. Prinshof School reported that they are the only school teaching maths in grade 10 to 12. The school was commended for this.

25.2 Tactile Graphics

It was reported that not much is happening on the list. The SALB is very busy producing tactile material as reported before.

The SALB plans to use the former rules list and all its listed members for the braille tactile mailing list. This was still in the planning stage.

26. DRAFT BRAILLE POLICY STATEMENT

A meeting was held on 26 March 2014 with the Deputy Minister of the Department for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities (DWCPD) on the draft braille policy and how the Department sees the Braille Authority in the future.

A Braille Policy document was prepared some time ago with the input of several persons. This document was well written and researched and covered all aspects of braille and the authority that should govern it, but was not yet adopted by the authorities concerned as a braille policy document.

The Deputy Minister undertook to, if she was still similarly involved after the national elections, engage with all concerned to see to it that the Braille Policy document be adopted and implemented as such especially concerning the structure of the Braille Authority.

At the same meeting, the matter of the structure and position of the Braille Authority was also discussed at length. This was especially important as there were rumours that the Government Structures will not accept the Braille Authority in its present form but wanted to incorporate it into the existing Government structures.

The Deputy Minister stated that she does not have any problem with the structure of the current Braille Authority except for the fact that it should be funded and well recognised.

Although the proposal was that the Government system should be involved in the structure of the Braille Authority, the representatives of SABA emphasised the point that the braille sector should have the majority vote in its structure. The Deputy Minister did not have any problem with this proposal.

If this proposed structure is acceptable to the community, it will mean that a statutory body will be established and that it will have statutory recognition and support for braille. If done in this way, the body will have the authority to carry out its intended mandate.

From the floor it was said that, although not formally expressed, the DWCPD will be moving in under the cover of the Department of social Development (DSD) which will mean that braille, if a statutory body, will be seen by the general public as welfare and not an entity of its own stature. This welfare image can be upheld by officials and, in the view of the meeting, will not benefit the development of braille as such.

The meeting was of the view that, if a statutory body was established, it will fit in better with DAC where the statutes of the SALB are seated at present.

At the last meeting with the Deputy Minister of the DWCPD, the representative of the DBE actively stated that, in her view, the Braille Authority should fall under the DBE. This was opposed by the SABA Representatives saying that the DAC had a longstanding relationship with braille and, according to its view, this is the department that should take care of the authority.

On a question from the floor, the Chairperson said that all the braille authorities round the world operate in a different way although most of the authorities operated independently.

The ideal in South Africa is for the Braille Authority to have statutory recognition and that such a body be controlled by the braille sector itself. With the former situation it would be ideal for the authority to be related to the DAC because of its long-standing relationship with braille.

The meeting also agreed that more intense engagements with various Government Departments should be a priority as to get as many of them on board and understand the braille sector. This can then possibly assist when a final decision is to be made on the set-up of a statutory braille body.

27. NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES

The Chairperson said that he has had several communications with persons in Zimbabwe related to the setting up of a local Braille Authority. He did receive several reports on the process but the last one arrived some time ago.

The Representative from the Visually Impaired Support (VIPS) of Zimbabwe said that he has not had any access to the last reports of the efforts to set up a braille authority in Zimbabwe. Braille is widely used in the country but access to the UBC is limited according to his knowledge.

He also said that braille and the structures around it is not as well organised as in South Africa therefore the delay in getting official structures off the ground. Part of this problem is that top officials of the Government, have no idea what braille is or of the importance of it to blind persons therefore the lack of interest to promote it.

The representative said that he was so impressed with what he experienced with this General Assembly meeting that he intends taking this information forward to Zimbabwe to try and invest this into the recognition of braille and the structures involved with it.

28. ELECTION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Through a process of requesting nominations for members of the Executive committee via the SABA General Mailing List and then via a democratic secret voting process, the following persons were elected to serve on the Executive Committee of SABA:

President - Mr Ntshavheni Simon Netshituni;

Deputy-President - Mr Christo de Klerk;

Treasurer - Mr Derick Greeff;

Additional Executive Member - Ms Lebogang Manyane;

Additional Executive member Mr Deenadayalan Moodley;

Additional Executive member Mr David Nkwenkwezi; and

Additional Executive Member Mr Willie Malatsi.

29ANY OTHER RELEVANT MATTERS

29.1Delegations leaving the general assembly early

It was stated from the floor that, regardless of the fact that the times within which the General Assembly meeting will be conducted is clearly stated in the agenda, a large group of the delegates intend leaving the meeting two hours before it officially closes. This has special reference as in the year, elections will be conducted in the May meeting and not having delegations represented has a huge influence on this activity.

It was established that 5 delegations will leave earlier than the circulated closing time for the meeting. Persons stated that due to expensive accommodation etc. and availability of flights, they just had to shorten their time at the meeting.

29.2Recommendations from the Blind SA Education Committee

The Blind SA Education Committee discussed several matters concerning SABA and its meetings and table these for discussion.

Firstly, that it be considered to hold one General Assembly meeting per year as the accommodation and travelling cost is now very high especially for schools and smaller institutions.

From the floor, it was said that, with one meeting, matters could drag on unnecessarily and possibly come to a total halt with only one meeting. It was however added that, if deadlines of tasks are insisted upon, this scenario should have a lesser effect on the finishing of tasks given at General Assembly meetings. It was also stated that the nature of the meetings has changed over time when previously more time was spent on technical matters than nowadays. The Chairperson added that the larger group such as the present General Assembly meetings ensures more exposure to persons not normally exposed to braille related discussions at all. This may just encourage those persons to do more at their own place of work.

A question was raised as to the budgets schools have for attending conferences and meetings. SABA representatives at open meetings of the DBE has been told that schools do receive budgets for attending meetings but this fact is denied by delegations from schools at the General Assembly meeting.

At this point, Mr Makhathala representing the DBE arrived. After welcoming him at the meeting, the Chairperson put the matter to him. He responded in saying that provinces do get budgets for all the special schools in the province. From these budgets, the schools have to divide the funding received for the acquisition of books and other needs as well as for attending meetings and conferences. Permission must be granted by the district official for that school to use this fund for such activities. This request may be declined by the district official if the official does not have enough insight or knowledge of the importance of attending such a meeting.

The meeting was informed that schools can use the prospectus of SABA to motivate the provision of funds for meetings.

RESOLVED:

29.2.1That, with 11 votes for and 7 votes against the motion, it was resolved to hold one General Assembly meeting per year from 2015.

29.2.2That the membership fees agreed upon earlier be changed to be R370.00 for schools and R620.00 for other institutions for 2015-2016.

30.DATE AND VENUE OF THE NEXT MEETING OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

RESOLVED:

That the next General Assembly meeting of SABA be held on 2 & 3 October at the Pioneer Printers in Worcester in the Western Cape Province.

31.VOTE OF THANKS

The President of SABA especially thanked the SALB for hosting the SABA General Assembly meeting as part of its 95th year celebration. He thanked the organising committee for all the hard work with the larger group as before. He asked that the appreciation goes to all concerned for the hospitality and for the meals and refreshments.

He also thanked the delegations for attending the meeting, for their participation and commitment for braille.

The President also said that it has been a great privilege for him to have been the President of SABA and the Chairperson of the former Braille SA. It was with great confidence and support that he now hands over the reigns to Ntshavheni Netshituni. He will serve braille and SABA as Deputy-President and in any capacity thereafter as long as he can.

32.CLOSURE

The out-going President adjourned the meeting.

CHRISTO DE KLERK (President South African Braille Authority

Compiled by Derick Greeff

ANNEXURE ONE

ATTENDANCE LIST MAY 2014

ALDEN

PASHA

SALB

BAM

SUSAN

BLIND SA

BOTHA

ANTONNETTE

CHUENE

GEOGINA

UL

DE KLERK

CHRISTO

EXEC

DONALDSON

CATHY

BLIND SA

DUBE

JOHANNES

BLIND SA

ISMAIL

SURAYA

SANCB

JORDAAN

PHILIP

BLIND SA

JORDAAN

SANETTE

BLIND SA

LESUFI

MANAPYANE

SIBONILE

MAKHAFOLA

SOLOMON

SIBONILE

MARAZI

TAFARA

VIPS ZIMBABWE

MARSHALL

HAZEL

SANCB

MASHABELA

MASEKOPO

ST FRANCIS

MATHYSER

NEELS

PRINSHOF

MATSHWANE

MODIRI

BARTIMEA

MOLEPO

RM

SILOE SCHOOL

MOODLEY

DEENADAYALAN

UNISA

MOTSETE

MARGARET

UNISA

NEMAKHAVHANE

FHULKFHEDZANI

SETOTOLWANE

NETSHITUNI

SIMON

UNISA

NKWENKWEZI

DAVID

UFS

POPPLESTONE

REINETTE

UCT

RAMOROKA

TL

SILOE SCHOOL

RAKATE

DINEO

BARTIMEA

ROOS

NICKY

SANCB

SISING

ELISA

UFS

SWART

MARIUS

PIONEER PRINTERS

VAN WYK

SUSAN

BLIND SA

VON MOLLENDORF

ARNE

INST FOR THE BLIND

NEMAKHAVHANE

FLORENCE

SETOTOLWANE

YONA

NOLUVUYO

SALB

MANYANE LEBO ECO-ACCESS

ANNEXURE TWO

CODE MAINTENANCE COMMITTEEReport to SABA May 2014

In November 2013 the second edition (2013) of The Rules of Unified English Braille was released. It is available for download from the ICEB website as a pdf, a linked pdf, and 6 brf files. For the linked pdf file George Bell (UK) inserted hyperlinks into the pdf file for approximately 2500 references.

SABA's most sincere thanks should go to Blind SA and their Braille Services for donating a print and a braille version of the Rulebook (its shorter nickname) to each school for the blind.

In August 2012 the Code Maintenance Committee (CMC) formulated a list of 32 charges. 14 of these have been completed. Among the remaining 18 charges there are symbols requested by SABA, namely:

the German "sharp s" (lowercase U+00df and uppercase U+1e9e), usually rendered in English as ss or sz;

tripple vertical bar (U+2af4) meaning similar to, as in same shape different size;

check mark: determine whether dots 5146 (radical without vinculum U+221a) is the best sign to use. There is also a check mark (U+2713) which is more or less similar in shape;

letter modifiers (diacritics) found in South African languages:

* Venda: dot above following letter (U+0307) also found in Gaelic;

* Venda: circumflex below following letter (U+032d);

* Sepedi (Northern Sotho): caron above following letter (U+030c). [Due to a misunderstanding this symbol was incorrectly listed in CMC Charge 17 as "dot below".]

The letter modifiers are not intended for use in the home codes where special provision was made for diacritics, but for text in a foreign language such as English.

A major task ahead is extensive work on the braille symbols and rules of the Guidelines for Technical Material (GTM), which is to be incorporated into the next edition of the Rulebook, either replacing 11 or as an appendix.

Charge 29 requires our attention. It reads: "Add a rule to Section 10.4 that the contractions for "ar" and "gh" ... are not used when preceded and followed by a space, to avoid confusion with diagonal line segments (Section 16.3)". If this should be approved, we would not be able to use "aan" and "ui" as wordsigns in Afrikaans.

Other items on the agenda include:

Contraction usage in problem words;

The impact of a medial capital letter on the use of contractions;

An alphabetic version of the shortforms list;

An index.

The CMC Chair, Phyllis Landon, receives many queries personally and via the e-mail address on the ICEB website, and she keeps track of what needs to be referred for action. There is interest in an e-mail list and/or a listing of Q&As or FAQ's so that information can be disseminated quickly and regularly.

I will be retiring as member of the CMC at the time of the ICEB Executive Committee meeting in New Zealand next week.

Antonnette Botha

ANNEXURE THREE

0. TRIBUTE TO ANTONNETTE BOTHA

I wish to pay tribute to Antonnette Botha who is resigning as a member of the Code Maintenance Committee. I would like to thank her for her dedication and the contribution she made to writing the rules for UEB. Her wording and examples are still evident throughout the rulebook.

Antonnette Botha was the first chair of the Rules Committee (Committee VI of the UEB Project) which was established in 1993. She had a clear plan for the Rulebook right from the start. She assigned tasks, drafted rules, led discussions, chaired face to face meetings and generally ensured that the work continued step by step over the many years required.

Under her leadership, consultation was the key. She was, and is, respected for her depth of knowledge and her ability to manage all the minute details while keeping the core principles at the forefront.

Antonnette stepped down as chair in 2006, remaining as a member representing South Africa on Committee VI. When the Code Maintenance Committee was formed in 2010, she was one of four people appointed for their expertise. We could always count on Antonnette to thoroughly review any proposed changes to wording or examples and, often, to point out missed errors and unforeseen implications. Thankfully, even in "retirement", she will continue to participate as an observer.

We are grateful that we will still benefit from her experience, wisdom, perspective and especially, her passion for UEB.

Respectfully submitted,

Phyllis Landon

Chair, Code Maintenance Committee

ANNEXURE FOUR

Report to SABA on Afrikaans braille rules 16 May 2014Purpose of the presentation

The purpose of the presentation was to put before the Assembly the work that had been done on updating Afrikaans contraction rules, with the hope to have them adopted in principle. It is hoped that this will enable those tasked with updating the Translation tables for Afrikaans to begin to implement the decisions contained in the document that served as the basis for the presentation.

The document consists of ten sections which were reported on under the relevant headings.

4.1 Die "alleenstaande" rel

This rule is central to the principles underlying UBC and spells out the conditions under which wordsigns and shortforms can be contracted.

4.2 Eenselwoordtekens

This rule governs the use of wordsigns including 25 alphabet contractions and 8 wordsigns: eindelik, iets, een, erken, wat, stil and two lower word contractions, se and hier.

The rule differs from the one in the UEB Rulebook in two ways:

1. we do not allow the wordsign to be contracted in apostrophed expressions such as "wat's die" and "jy's gek."

1. We also do not distinguish between alphabetic contractions and non-alprhabetic wordsigns. For the rest, we apply the standing alone rules outlined in section 1.

4.3 Eenselverkortings

This rule does not differ from the one we have used up till now, except that the use of contractions has been liberalised. This is demonstrated through the provision in the rule of ample examples. One change which needs to be made regarding the version of the document that was distributed at the meeting is that the contraction for ui can in fact be used as aword. In other respects the rule corresponds to that in the UEB Rulebook.

4.4 Laerverkortings

This rule is somewhat more detailed than in the existing formulation, mainly to ensure that it deals with all the instances treated in the UEB Rulebook.

4.5 Tweeselverkortings

This rule is essentially unchanged, except once again use of the contractions have been liberalised. This is amply demonstrated by examples. We would now contract dit in oudit, vir in virus, reg in regulasie, etc.

4.6. Kortvorms

We have chosen to retain the rules according to which we have used shortforms in the past. It deviates from the UEB rule in one important respect. We make no exceptions about using shortforms as parts of larger words. Instead we apply the standing alone rule as envisaged in the UEB Rulebook. It has the advantage of infinitely simplifying this rule, in comparison with the one which applies in English

4.7 Uitspraak

As with 4.3 and 4.5 above, we have liberalized the use of groupsigns. Although stress and vowel length still govern the use of some of these, we have moved away from an existing tradition according to which we had contracting guidelines which were based on largely unwritten rules around pronunciation, this rule has been considerably simplified. Whereas in the past we would have contracted the words geniet and generaal differently, we will in future contract ge in both cases. We will no longer depend on knowing the etomology of the word as, to some extent, we did in the past.

4.8 Voorkeur

This rule demonstrates the circumstances under which to opt for one alternative contraction rather than another.

4.9 Oorbrugging

This rule has remained largely unchanged from what we are used to, except that we have, in accordance with UEB, done away with the prohibition to contract across prefixes and stems, and we have also done away with our older rule which prohibited the contraction across the suffixes -kunde and -kunige.

4.10 Woordverdeling

This rule contains nothing new. It is instead a summary of the rules which pertain primarily to how contractions are used round hyphenation, whether in the spelling of a word or as a word might have to be divided across braille lines.

Resolution

I unfortunately had to leave just before this discussion was concluded, but my understanding is that the Assembly unanimously agreed to accept the proposed rules, subject to the small adjustments referred to in the paragraph below.

What remains

The rules will be fine edited and proof read and prepared for publication both in braille and in print. Members were asked to continue to give us feedback on anything in the distributed document which they feel might need our attention.

In the meantime the Rules Committee tasked with the work on Afrikaans braille need to decide on how the option of code switching for which UEB allows will be implemented. We will also circulate a draft of the use of diacritics in Afrikaans, as some of these will have grade 2 meanings.

Respectfully submitted

Reinette Popplestone