Expired inclusive education strategy touted for helping to improve enrollment of 205,630 leaners with disabilities
The National Inclusive Education Strategy, which was implemented from 2017 to 2021, has helped Malawi enroll 205,630 leaners with disabilities in her public schools, among many other achievements.
Deputy Director of Inclusive Education in the Ministry of Education, Lucy Magagula, made the commendation on Tuesday in Lilongwe during the opening of a National Inclusive Education Strategy review workshop.
According to the Malawi Education Statistics Report (2023), primary education now has 193,880 learners (99,495 males and 94,385 females) with special educational needs, secondary education has 11,521 learners (5,871 males and 5,650 females).
The tertiary level has a total of 229 students spread across the universities, teacher training colleges and technical colleges.
Magagula said these are some of the significant successes the new strategy can be built on to respond to the government agenda, especially to the commitments of the Ministry of Education in the Malawi 2063 Vision.
“The expired inclusive strategy also did well in helping achieve notable increase in provision of learning and teaching materials.
“There is also good response from education partners who have enhanced the capacity of teachers and made sure that there is infrastructure that is relevant to the needs of the learners with special needs”.
The workshop, being attended by scores of inclusive education stakeholders, brings forth recommendations for developing a new inclusive education strategy in line with inclusive education policy and Malawi 2063 Vision, among other national agenda.
Moving forward, Magagula reiterated that the Ministry of Education is committed to issues of human capital development in the Malawi 2063, hence it must not leave some leaners behind in pursuing that path.
“Our success in this endeavor hinges upon our collective efforts.
“It requires the collaboration of government departments and directorates, educators, technology developers, civil society organizations, organizations of persons with disability and, most importantly, the voices of those directly impacted – learners with special educational needs and their families.
“Together, we possess the collective wisdom, experience, and determination to effect meaningful change,” she said.
Jennifer Ngwira, a Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences teacher-trainer of teachers supporting children with disabilities, urged stakeholders to identify best practices in order to promote more inclusion for learners with disabilities.
She added there is a need for a comprehensive understanding of the concept of inclusive education, looking at it from various perspectives, including medical, social interactive, human rights and cultural perspective, among others.
“We need to redefine inclusive education, making sure that it takes on a contextualized deeper understanding that inclusion is not only about bringing a child with disability in a classroom. It is also ensuring that there is active learning, engagement and belonging in a school found within the neighborhood area of that particular child”.
Connex Kafera, Advocacy and Communications Officer for Fount for Nations, an organization advocating for inclusive education, said the expiry of the inclusive education strategy negatively impacted the implementation of inclusive education interventions.
“Players lacked guidance and policy backup when advocating for inclusive education. The new strategy will inform stakeholders to be able to do something much better in implementing inclusive education programs.
“Therefore, we should not just come up with something that will stay idle. We should be thinking how we will implement and achieve what we plan to benefit a learner with disability”.
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