JP/19/QURAN

Koran in braille changes students' lives

Indra Harsaputra Contributor/Surabaya

A smile bloomed on the face of Adi Subroto, who runs Surabaya's Yayasan Tunanetra Islam Karunia (Yaptunik), an Islamic foundation for the blind, when he learned that some of his students were each able to read a verse from the Koran in turn.

He was happy because his students had benefited from Koran- reading lessons taught to them at Surabaya's school for blind learners, SLB 99.

"It's time to end today's lesson now. I hope you can continue practicing what you have learned so that you can read the Holy Koran as fluently as sighted people," Adi told his students when the voice watch, a type of watch specially designed for blind people, told them it was already noon. (Former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid used the same type of watch during several visits to Islamic boarding schools in East Java.)

Adi said that the lesson on how to read the Koran was part of the school curriculum. Unlike other subjects, for example math, general knowledge and reading, the lesson is given twice a week in the classroom.

The students, however, also take extra Koran-reading lessons every day from a teacher who has mastered the braille writing system. The lessons are given to them after school or during the students' holidays.

"They are as enthusiastic as other people about implementing religious instructions. Some students have better self-control after reading the Koran," he told The Jakarta Post.

Learning process

It generally takes 6 months to a year for students to become proficient at reading the Koran. The intelligence level of the students is a determining factor in this respect. One student, Ali, who has been blind since he was born, took only six months to be able to read the Koran properly. His friend, Mutain, on the other hand, needed a year.

Ali Murtado and Mutain, two of the school's 60 students, have also won awards in the Musabaqah Tilawatil Quran (MTQ Koran- Reading Contest), in Surabaya. As the top prize winner, Ali represented Surabaya at the East Java MTQ. The second prize went to Mutain. Both read the Koran using braille.

Adi Subroto, himself a blind man, deserves praise for his great efforts in making students proficient in reading the Koran. He has made sure that the Koran in braille is available in fairly large quantities and has also set up a special foundation for the blind.

It is a sad fact that the Koran in braille is still quite difficult to find in Indonesia. Not a single mosque in Indonesia has one. Only in the Mecca Grand Mosque can you find the Koran in braille. It is placed at the King Abdul Azis and Al-Umrah gates, the two main gates of the mosque.

In Indonesia, the Koran in braille was produced in 1977. Wiyata Guna Foundation on Jl. Padjajaran 56 in Bandung and Yokatonis, a printing company for the Koran in braille in Parangtritis, Yogyakarta, once made and sold the book. Unfortunately, they have stopped publishing it. Instead, they now publish an Islamic magazine in braille.

As the Koran in braille is quite difficult to find in Indonesia, Adi, who is quite a famous masseur in Surabaya, has been prompted to set up a foundation for the blind with the hope that they could later publish it.

He worked hard to put together 30 chapters already published in braille by Wiyata Guna Foundation and Yokatonis.

Adi's foundation was established in 1995. Also, this year, he built a school on a private plot of land, measuring 206 square meters, in Benowo, Surabaya. Most of the donations for the building of the school came from his former massage clients and from the Al Fallah Foundation.

High production cost

He said the greatest constraint in his effort to publish the in braille was the high operational cost. To publish 30 chapters took six months, at a cost of Rp 1.5 million.

Included in the cost was the purchase of special paper for braille printing. As the operational cost was very high, Adi was able to produce only five copies. Three have been donated to a special school for the blind in Tuban, East Java, and the remaining two are used at his school.

To ensure that all his students can read the Koran without having to take turns, Adi, assisted by five other blind men, produced the Koran in braille verse by verse. To produce one verse takes about two weeks at a cost of some Rp 100,000.

"East Java Governor Imam Utomo once made a donation of Rp 1.5 million for the production of the special Koran. The education ministry has never extended any assistance. In fact, only a few of a total of 55 schools for blind students in Surabaya have the Koran in braille.

So, with whatever braille Korans he has at his disposal, Adi enthusiastically teaches his students how to read verses from it.

He has only one goal: To ensure that blind people can read the Koran as easily as the sighted.

In this context, it is also sad to say that books for the blind are only available in a very limited quantity. That is why the development of formal education designed for blind people is now facing great constraints.

Dina Ambarwati, one of the teachers in the school for blind people, agreed that the limited availability of books for the blind was the greatest handicap in her teaching activities.

That is why, she said, although the schools bought a package of books for blind learners every year, some of the teachers often took the initiative to change certain books into a braille version with the help of a blind man, who is assigned to type in braille the contents of the books that the teachers dictate to him.

"I don't know whether producing a braille version violates the book's copyright or not. However, as many existing books in braille are no longer in line with the curriculum, new books are needed. Unfortunately, books in braille are not only very expensive but are available only in limited quantities," she noted.

The school or the foundation, she added, usually could not afford to buy new books in braille because the donations made were also limited. "We cannot ask the students' parents to bear part of this cost as most of them are badly off."

Another trick, she said, is to read the contents of new books to students.

She added that she often bought new books with her own money to ensure that her students would not be left behind, especially because the materials for the students' final examinations must conform to the national curriculum.

"Sometimes, we exchange books with other schools for the blind," she added.

The availability of the Koran in braille was very important, said Mustain, because it helped him understand Islam better. In addition to listening to the preaching of the Islamic cleric, he could read the holy book himself, he added.

"Reading the Koran strengthens my faith. I have become more optimistic about leading my own life," he said.

Adi Subroto added that he never expected to receive any reward for what he did for blind students.

The only thing he hopes to see is that blind children will have a better future than he.