16 Jordanian Girls Pass the ICDL Exam with Arabic Hal Screen Reader

History was made last week in Amman, Jordan when a group of 16 Jordanian blind girls passed the ICDL exam with two girls achieving higher scores. What made such an event unique is the fact that the blind girls took the Arabic ICDL exam without any sighted help. The girls obtained training in the Saudi Jordanian Institute for the Blind in Amman which qualified them to take the exam. The exam was offered and supervised by the UNESCO’s office in Jordan.

Yesterday, the institute celebrated the success of the 16 blind girls in the presence of H. H. Prince Raed Bin Zaid, H.E. the Minster of Islamic Affairs in Jordan, H. E. the Saudi Ambassador to Jordan as well as representatives of the UNESCO’s office in Amman. Nattiq’s representative in Jordan, Mr. Mohammed Al-Shara, attended the ceremony and received a certificate of appreciation from H. H. Prince Raed Bin Zaid for Nattiq’s role in facilitating the tools required for blind users to take the ICDL exam.

Nattiq invested considerable resources to enable its State-Of-The-Art Arabic screen reader, Hal, access all required ICDL materials and exams. Hal enables blind people to access standard computer systems which opens to them doors of opportunities in pursuing challenging careers and advanced education.

Nattiq rewarded Miss. Hanan Al-Gharagheer and Miss. Rafeeda Al-Jawazmeh with a gift of Talks mobile phone screen reader for achieving the highest two overall scores in the ICDL test.

“A few blind users in the Middle East passed the ICDL in the past, but they always required extensive help from a sighted person which defeats the purpose of proving that blind users can be completely independent in achieving any IT task. Arabic Hal screen reader provided those bright young ladies with the independence they were hoping to obtain in taking the ICDL exam. As a result, they succeeded magnificently”, said Auda Hazeem, Nattiq’s CEO.

Dozens of blind people are expected to pass the ICDL exam independently before the end of the year with Hal’s help.