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SCMP Reporter

A mainland school for the blind desperately needs funds to upgrade basic facilities for its 25 students.

 And with Operation Santa Claus donations this year going to the Mui Zhou School for the Blind in the northeast of Guangdong province, services for students will soon improve.

 The school was established in 1988 and provides basic education for blind and visually impaired students from Primary Two to Secondary Two.

 Nine-year-old student Wong Chi-kin is one student whose education at the school will be enhanced by the Operation Santa Claus donations.

 Chi-kin has been sightless since birth, with doctors still unsure why.

 His father is a factory worker earning 350 yuan (HK$325) a month, while his mother farms a small plot.

 But the family's already shaky financial situation has been jeopardised by Chi-kin's medical problems, with most savings going towards paying medical bills.

 It is hoped the Operation Santa Claus donations will cover the school fees of 30 students at the school, in addition to a further 70 students in other parts of Guangdong and the mainland.

 The money raised will also go towards providing visual aid equipment and part-time teaching staff at the Mui Zhou school, where the Hong Kong Blind Union currently supports 18 students.

 Union director Joseph Lo Yiu-man visited the school recently and said the biggest obstacle to recruiting more visually impaired students was the school's inaccessibility to most families in the region.

 'Often a family cannot contact the school because a phone call is too expensive,' he said.

 Parents living in the countryside also found it difficult to pay school fees, he said.



Donations shine ray of light for blind children