Mat North acquires audiometric equipment

The equipment was sourced by Save the Children, a local non-governmental organisation, and will be installed at Tsholotsho High School.
In an interview yesterday, Matabeleland North provincial education director Mrs Boithatelo Mnguni said the equipment was awaiting installation.
“For the first time, Matabeleland North will have its own audiometric testing equipment. The equipment is used for testing the severity of hearing impairment in children and that would assist us a lot as a ministry.
“The equipment was sourced by Save the Children, an organisation that deals with children’s welfare and rights,” said Mrs Mnguni.
“We chose Tsholotsho High because the school has recommended boarding facilities that would allow pupils with varying degrees of impairment to learn together.”
Mrs Mnguni said audiometric testing was very important in providing teachers with the required information about a child.
“This machinery is very helpful especially in screening pupils according  to their educational needs and in identifying appropriate methods in effective teaching.
“At the moment, disabled children from the province are being taken to Bulawayo while some never go to school at all. Tsholotsho will be the provincial centre and we want those children to learn here,” said Mrs Mnguni.
“The new approach and emphasis  is on integration. In the past, we used  to segregate disabled children but  now they have to learn together. We  have realised that removing them from others makes them fail to fit back into society.”
She appealed to parents with disabled children to take them to school and ensure that they attend classes like  others.
“Disabled children should also be given the platform and opportunity to learn. Parents should liberate them to gain knowledge that would help their future,” said Mrs Mnguni.
She said all the groundwork to have the equipment installed, including renovations, had been done, adding that her office was now waiting for technicians to do the installation.