Zim Now Writer
Zimbabwe has inadequate special needs teachers to cater for all the children who have challenges in schools across the country, a senior education official said.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister, Edgar Moyo, said learners were separated according to ability with those that have challenges being put in special classes, where they handled by specially-trained teachers.
“People with intellectual challenges, largely in a school system, are screened. In the Ministry, we have a department called the Learner Welfare Special Needs Education Department. So, they are supposed to screen learners for intellectual disabilities so that special classes are created and then special strategies that are commensurate with those incapabilities are then attended to by special teachers,” he said.
The Bulawayo-based United College of Education trains Moyo special needs teachers but the numbers were too few to cater for the volumes of children with the learning challenges, according to Moyo.
Related Stories
Schools across the country had special classes, which are however, slowly being eliminated owing to the shortage of suitably qualified teachers.
The special classes were introduced to cater for pupils with learning challenges and cannot cope with the learning pace of their peers.
The development has, sadly, led to learners being sidelined, missing out on education despite government calling for inclusive education and learning spaces.
The Deputy Minister said with Zimbabwe’s Inclusive Education Policy, teachers are expected to do some targeted teaching so that they do not leave anyone behind in their teaching strategies. However, learners with severe challenges are supposed to be taken to special institutions where there are specialists.
However, these institutions are usually very expensive and beyond the reach of many, a situation that leaves many children excluded from the education system owing to their condition.
Leave Comments