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Blind teacher in France told to supervise exams

Oliver Gee
Oliver Gee - [email protected]
Blind teacher in France told to supervise exams
The woman was told to supervise an exam, even though she can't see. Photo: AFP

A blind teacher in southern France was baffled to be called in to supervise students during a an exam. Despite her appeals that she wasn't est suited, her school forced her to do it.

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Caroline Bouffard, a music teacher at the Jean Moulin high school in Alès, southern France, has extremely poor vision. 
 
So poor, in fact, that the 20-year teaching veteran always has an assistant with her during her classes. 
 
And even though Bouffard says it would be impossible for her to act as an exam supervisor due to this lack of vision, that's exactly what she was asked to do for the national diploma exams in her middle school, known as the "Brevet".
 
"I tried to argue and say that I wouldn't be able to do it, but it just fell on deaf ears," she told the Midi Libre newspaper.
 
She added that the vice principal said the move was made to ensure the school couldn't be taken to task for discrimination - a move that did little to impress Bouffard. 
 
"I'm not the kind of person who would sue. It's absurd," she said. "I expect a little more compassion and humanity."
 
A spokesperson for the school told the paper that Bouffard always carried out her teaching with another assistant teacher present, and that exam supervision responsibility was to be no different. 
 
Bouffard spent three shifts "supervising" the students, during which time her assistant and another teacher carried out the actual supervising. 
 

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