OMAR LUCAS

Luis Braille Special Education Center was created in 1941, in the district of Comas (Lima - Peru). It is the only state school with secondary level and boarding school, dedicated to teaching people with blindness and low vision. In their classrooms, part of their 170 students attend their initial, primary and secondary education, while others access the occupational program in which they are trained to practice different trades or integrate their rehabilitation program for the blind who works with adults who lose their sight.

In 2011, many deficiencies in the building´s school structure were detected and determined that the construction must be demolished, but any instances of Peruvian Government have done anything to reverse the situation and ensure the safety of those who learn under its roof. Regardless of the big problems, students strive to learn the Braille system and educate themselves for the purpose of being included in society. Many of them come from cities and remote villages from all over the country and leave behind their families and friends because there are no specialized schools near to their places of origin.

The Center assists the visually impaired to be independent and not discriminated, and train free, critically-minded and autonomous citizens that like the rest struggle to get ahead and achieve their dreams. In Peru, there are more than one million people with different visual problems. About half of them live in Lima and 80% of them are illiterate because they do not have access to education, which put them at a double disadvantage in the society. Luis Braille Educational Institution, Comas District, Lima, Peru. 2010-2016