Physically challenged children still fail to access education

Lovemore Zigara
After two years of trying, Behaviour Nkomo of Mberengwa was filled with joy when she finally gave birth to her first child at the local Musume Mission Hospital 18 years ago.

Her celebration was, however, short-lived as she discovered something was amiss with her bundle of joy.

After consulting doctors at the Evangelical Lutheran Church-run hospital, Nkomo was told her son, Waddington Shumba, had hydrocephalus.

Waddington, now 18, has never been to school primarily because of his condition.

His parents tried to enrol him in local schools but were turned away while efforts to take him to a special school also hit a brick wall.

“We’ve tried to take him to Mnene (school) but he was turned away because the school doesn’t have facilities to enrol children with his condition. In any case taking him there was going to be a challenge for us as this would have meant taking Waddy to school in a scotch cart daily. He can’t walk long distances and the school is about five kilometres away.

“Some time ago we took him to Jairos Jiri in Bulawayo but we were told the facility only catered for those who’ve completed elementary and secondary school. They also told us that it only enrols those who want to undertake vocational education. We were then referred to Southerton in Harare and we were told the facility no longer offered classes,” said Nkomo.

She has since given up on seeing her son attend school due to the frustration of being “tossed” around from school to school.

Hydrocephalus is a condition that occurs when fluid builds up in the skull and causes the brain to swell. It is a brain condition in which the fluid bathing the brain and spinal cord (cerebrospinal fluid) accumulates within spaces of the brain, known as ventricles, causing an abnormal increase in pressure within the skull. If left untreated, this increased pressure can damage surrounding brain tissue, resulting in a variety of brain function impairments. Hydrocephalus can be treated by a surgical procedure.

Although the condition can be treated, Waddington failed to get assistance following the brain drain that hit the country in the post 2000 era. The brain drain was induced by the economic challenges the country was facing at the time.

Nkomo and her peasant farmer husband could not afford to take their son outside the country for specialist treatment.

However, Nkomo is not alone in this predicament of raising a child with hydrocephalus or any other form of disability.

One or two children in every 1,000 are born with the condition.

Another case is that of Pride Zvikomborero Hove, six, who was born with a spinal cord disorder which has condemned him to a wheelchair since birth.

Pride’s maternal grandmother, Gogo Sikhangezile Hove, who also lives in Mberengwa says her efforts to take him to school were in vain.

“We wanted to take him to Jairos Jiri Waterfalls in Harare but we couldn’t leave him there. The authorities informed us that for us to do that he needed a next of kin who stayed in Harare who would come and check on him so that in case of any eventuality the relative would be readily available.

“At St Giles we couldn’t afford the fees there and other requirements that were needed and we decided to bring him back. Our plea is to have a facility nearby which caters for children with his condition,” she said.

Despite the new constitution being against the discrimination of people living with disabilities, especially where basic human rights like the right to education are concerned, the plight of Waddington and Pride shows that people with disabilities are still being sidelined in most of the major sectors of the economy.

National Association of the Care of the Handicapped says only 19 percent of people living with disabilities are enrolled in education institutions in the country.

About 35 percent of children with disabilities in Zimbabwe do not complete primary education, a situation that has been worsened by the lack of special needs classes for Early Childhood Development (ECD) and government’s failure to provide suitable facilities for learners with a disability in all schools.

The government announced that there would be no special needs ECD classes in formal schools as there was no overwhelming evidence that there are significant numbers of children who require such facilities.

This is despite the government pronouncements three years ago on inclusive education where children with and without disabilities participate and learn together in the same classes.

The government’s failure to introduce special ECD classes also comes at a time when the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is implementing the new curriculum.

Zimcare Trust executive director, Nicholas Aribino, says for the inclusive education to work, the curriculum review should have started with teachers’ colleges. Aribino says more than 75 percent of teachers in Zimbabwe cannot use sign language or read Braille which means the whole exercise of curriculum review is discriminatory against children living with disabilities. He says more teachers should train in special education.

Said Aribino: “The new curriculum doesn’t speak to the needs and rights of children with disabilities. It’s largely silent on what children with disabilities need in terms of accessibility. Children with disabilities need teachers who are equipped with knowledge and skills to manage them.

“Only a handful of teacher training colleges in Zimbabwe offer special education. This therefore means teachers who are churned out don’t have special skills like interpreting sign language and reading Braille thus shortchanging children with special needs.

“The curriculum review should have started with the teacher education curriculum where modules of special needs education would be infused into every teacher training programme so that every teacher would have working knowledge of handling and managing children with special needs”.

Disabled activist and Students and Youth Working on Reproductive Health Action Team (SAYWHAT) programmes co-ordinator, Sendiso Ndlovu, said inclusive education should also offer infrastructure and services which incorporates people living with disabilities.

He said: “Accessibility means ease of reach of products, services, processes and information delivered at an institution. For instance if you’re designing a clinic it means you should ensure it has facilities for people with disabilities.

“It can be physical, mental or psychological or sensory impairments so there should be that incorporation and inclusion in the designing and development of infrastructure and other related services that are meant for the social development.”

Disability, HIV and Aids Trust programmes officer, Edwin Ndlovu, lamented the lack of policy on inclusion arguing that there is not enough legislation which speaks to people with disabilities.

Ndlovu said there is a need to enact pieces of legislations which ensure disabled people have access to education.

He said the country needed to have a disability education policy.

“The prevailing environment has left people with disabilities without education, living destitute lives. The country ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2013 but three years down the line there still is no enabling legislations to include people with disabilities in the main sectors of Zimbabwe. At the moment the education sector isn’t inclusive.

“Government policy says the nearest school should be at least five kilometres away but shockingly those who need special education have only a single school catering for them in the entire province,” said Ndlovu.

Less than seven percent of people with disabilities in Zimbabwe are in employment.