Online Reporter
Patrick Chitumba , [email protected]
GOVERNMENT has donated assistive devices to children with disabilities in the Midlands province as part of efforts to enhance inclusivity and equality.
The donation includes 18 wheelchairs, 392 tracing wheels, 10 tablets and keyboards, 88 science cylinders, 73 shovels and 73 hoes.
In 2021, President Mnangagwa launched the National Disability Policy to address issues of marginalisation and discrimination, ensuring that persons with disabilities can fully participate in national development in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Owen Ncube, handed over the equipment to the beneficiaries during a brief ceremony at the Government Complex in Gweru recently.
He stated that the donation highlights the Second Republic’s commitment to providing inclusive education.
“The New Dispensation is scaling up interventions towards the realisation of the aspirations of persons with disabilities as outlined in Section 22 of the Constitution of the Republic of Zimbabwe, which emphasises the need to include disability at all levels in our development plans across sectors such as education, health, agriculture, mining and manufacturing, among others,” said Minister Ncube.
He commended schools that have constructed disability-friendly structures such as ramps at classroom entrances and widened ablution facilities to improve accessibility.
Minister Ncube said the Second Republic continues to provide substantial support to Mudavanhu Zimcare Trust, Jairos Jiri Naran Centre Primary and Secondary Schools as well as 36 Resource Units for children with intellectual challenges, hearing, and visual impairments in the province.
“In 2023, the New Dispensation provided assistive devices such as braille machines, Braille paper, and folding canes to schools with resource units for learners with visual impairments,” he added.
“In addition, an Audiological Testing Laboratory was established at the Provincial Education Offices where all school-going children are tested for hearing impairments.
Minister Ncube expressed appreciation for the health and tourism Ambassador, First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa, for her passionate and impactful globally acclaimed wellness programmes, which align with the donation initiative.
“These programmes include guidance and counselling for learners, the provision of stationery, sanitary pads, and wheelchairs to students, as well as spearheading the school feeding programme across the country. Under this programme, 858 primary schools in high-density suburbs and rural areas received mealie-meal as part of the drought relief efforts.
“The First Lady has also been involved in the construction of state-of-the-art waiting mothers’ shelters at Kanyemba, Binga and Mvuma Hospitals as well as offering free cancer screenings,” he said.
