Their school made history in the Eastern Cape last year when some of its learners graduated at technical college (N3) level, not hamstrung by their physical conditions and inadequate educational resources.

And their 100% matric pass rate for the past five years is the envy of many, defying the stereotypes of early educators whose vision would have confined these learners to menial tasks like building, woodwork, craft-making, needlework and drawing.

Welcome to Efata School for the Blind and Deaf, a special school situated about 8km from Umtata on the way to Queenstown.

Now, the Telkom Foundation has joined the learners in their quest for knowledge and skills by donating a laboratory with 40 computers and two servers in a bid to help them bridge the digital divide.

The donation also includes two Braille printers, one that prints on ordinary paper and the other one on plastic.

The special software on 20 of the donated computers includes a program that "reads" the text in voice, as well as one that enlarges the size of the letters to a great extent.

The donation is part of the Foundation's Adopt-A-Project initiative, which calls upon Telkom's top management to devote their time and skills to deserving projects that fit the foundation's social investment profile.

The foundation identified Efata - which has 350 deaf learners and 120 blind learners - and put a request to Telkom's top management for possible adoption.

Essa Govender, Group Executive for Procurement, and Bashier Sallie, Managing Executive for Data and Special Services, agreed to adopt the school.

Speaking at the hand-over ceremony at the school in Umtata this week, Govender urged the learners to make full use of the equipment, ensuring they learnt skills that positioned them in the global mainstream economy.

"Many of tomorrow's career opportunities lie in the science and technology-related fields. Our country needs people who are skilled in these areas," Govender said.

He emphasised the foundation's main objective of the Adopt-A-Project initiative as being that of improving the quality of science and mathematics education in previously disadvantaged schools.

Sallie said that as a company, Telkom recognised that every person with a disability had the capacity to perform like any other employee, if he or she was given an equal opportunity.

"Telkom places great emphasis and has made great strides towards achieving a balanced and representative workforce. We are extremely pleased with the level of representivity for people with disabilities in our company," Sallie said.

"The learners of Efata have to prepare themselves today for their future jobs. Knowledge and skills are what employers are looking for and you will have to compete with other young people looking for jobs," Sallie said.

Efata acting school principal, Gideon Tsheketshe, said they appreciated what the Telkom Foundation had done for learners with special educational needs.

"We are looking forward to using these computers to the best of our ability in the improvement of skills of people with disabilities," Tsheketshe said.

The foundation is Telkom's social responsibility arm launched in 1998, and it contributes positively to the transformation of disadvantaged communities through social investments aimed at achieving sustainable development.

The social investment programmes focus on education and training, information and communication technology (ICT) planning and infrastructure roll-out, as well as on empowerment.