CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by George Chomba, Zambia, April 1998
THEME = CHILDREN
Zambia's hopes in integrating disabled children in the regular
school system,
has gained momentum in the little mining district of Kalulushi
where the project is being piloted
Instead of building special schools for the handicapped, 14 out of the 20 primary schools in the district have been selected for the disabled to be incorporated in the mainstream of education. Those who are severely handicapped, are receiving special tuition from nurses, teachers and community leaders, trained in handling the disabled.
It is hoped that the remaining 6 primary schools will be involved in the second phase of the childrens' integration in general education. It is expected that a special needs project will start in February next year. Workshops are being held for the district leaders involved in the childrens' education. The intention is to inform them about the need to equip the disabled with the necessary tools, so they can mingle with the able-bodied without too much difficulty. Also, to help the disabled make a positive contribution to community activities.
The Denmark International Development Agency (DANIDA) is providing financial support for the project. This will go towards teacher training, rehabilitating infrastructures at three pilot colleges - Kitwe and Mufulira in the Copperbelt, and Solwezi in North-Western province.
The colleges' infrastructure is being rehabilitated in line with the 1994 Salamanca Conferences on "Special Education Needs" which re-affirmed the need for countries to work towards providing schools for both able and disabled people. Teachers graduating from Special Education Colleges at the end of this year, will be sent to Kalulushi to care for both normal and disabled children, especially when the children are being taught together in one class.
Since the project was launched at the beginning of this year, 113 disabled children, including 54 girls, have been incorporated in the regular primary schools of Kalulushi. These children suffer severe disabilities. Some are visually handicapped; others have speech defects; some have mental disabilities; while others are physically disabled. Three information workshops have been held so far in Kalulushi. Health workers, traditional healers, NGO workers and community leaders have undergone training. More workshops and campaign activities are to follow.
Workshop participants are being instructed in the causes and the various kinds of disabilities. They are taught how to identify them and where help can be found. Special emphasis is placed on the type of educational help available.
Dr.Gadson Kasongo of Kalulushi District Hospital tells workshop participants that if a child has fits, difficulties in learning, hearing, speaking, seeing, moving; if he/she has strange behaviourial habits or has no feeling in hand or feet, then it is quite normal to suspect that all is not well with the child, and professional help and guidance must be sought.
Dr.Kasongo says most disabilities in Third World countries, including Zambia, are preventable because they result from ignorance and poverty. He gives the examples of malnutrition which results from bad diet; gonorrhoea and syphilis which could be treated if a pregnant mother attended ante-natal clinics where she could be screened. These diseases, if not detected in time, will cause disabilities in unborn babies. To emphasise the importance of the project, whenever Kalulushi's mayor, Willie Chenda, addresses the opening sessions of workshops, he talks directly to the parents of disabled children. His says something like this: "You're over-protective with your children, to the extent that you don't want them mixing with fully healthy children. The trouble is, when you do this, your disabled children feel unwanted and unloved".
Kalulushi is situated about 15km west of Kitwe city in the Copperbelt province, and has a population of between 200,000 and 300,000. The 1990 population central statistics however, stand at 90,000. The birth-rate per annum in the district is 3%. The district has an area of about 1,115 square kilometres. A larger part however, is Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) land. But even with two mines, Chibuluma (copper) and Chambishi (cobalt) already sold to international investors in the government privatisation exercise of the mines; an airport; timber plantation and a bird sanctuary, Kalulushi remains an area desperate for development.
There is no hotel or motel in the area. The only financial institutions, Barclays Bank, has indicated it is leaving, citing poor business. Now it only opens two days a week. The airport is more associated with Kitwe City than where it is presently situated. The timber plantation adds nothing to the area's economy. The bird sanctuary has, over the years, remained under-developed and so brings nothing in the way of revenue to the district. And this is the district the government has ear-marked with the responsibility of piloting a major national project on children with special education needs!
According to the district education officer, Edith Mwenya, Kalulushi was chosen for the project because of its unique geographical location. Mrs.Mwenya explained that the Ministry of Education wanted to test the project in an area which englobed the following characteristics vis à vis its geographical situation: in an urban area; on the outskirts of an urban area; within a rural situation. The whole intention was to gauge different people's reaction to the planned inclusion of disabled children in ordinary schools.
Mrs.Mwenya said that Kalulushi qualified on all these points because it has all the three communities in one district. "We can't afford to fail this project. Our failure will mean Zambians have refused to accept disabled children, Mrs.Mwenya said, adding that the project must succeed so that Kalulushi can set an example to other districts in Zambia which don't have a similar project.
Kalulushi's pilot project lasts up to February 2000 and initial indications are, that the project is heading for success. But it remains to be seen whether the interest among participants genuine and not just associated with transport and lunch allowances being received at the end of the day!
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement