CIVIL SOCIETY COALITION FOR QUALITY BASIC EDUCATION (CSCQBE)

December 2010

Civil Society Coalition for Quality Basic Education P.O. Box 30736, Lilongwe 3, Malawi. Tel: +265 1755976/77; Fax: +265 1 755 977 Email: cscqbe@sdnp.org.mw; nc@cscqbe.org Website: www.cscqbe.org

Child Rights Information & Documentation Centre Off Paul Kagame Road P. O. Box 3247, Lilongwe, Malawi. Tel: +265 1 750 098; Fax: +265 1 750 058 Mobile: +265 99 9 272 936 E-mail: info@cridoc.net; Website: http://www.cridoc.net

The plight of children with special education needs: A Fact Finding Visit Report

Introduction In the month of October 2010, the Civil Society Coalition for Quality Basic Education got a report from a coalition member, Drug Fight Malawi Executive Director, alerting the office that he came across two children from the same family. These children were discovered to be deaf. It was learnt that due to their disability, these children did not go to school as there were neither facilities nor teachers for children with hearing impairment, let alone for special needs education at the nearest school of Mkoko Primary School. The Executive Director for Drug Fight Malawi, Nelson Zakeyu, narrated the story as follows (excerpt):

One day I happened to find myself in a certain village to the rural western side of Lilongwe district and was astonished when I saw two beautiful children ( related) pointing at the vehicle I was traveling in. The vehicle stopped because the driver could not do other wise, we wanted to know why they were pointing at the vehicle for fear that something might have gone wrong to it. You could not believe it, they all started talking using sign language there then we realized that the two beautiful children do not speak. Fortunately enough, a middle-aged woman quickly approached us oh! She was related to the two children. She started interpreting to us that the two children were looking for mercy (alms) from people who live in town. The issue was that although the two children were physically fit, they were always chased out of school because they do not speak. The school head teacher used to tell them that they better go to schools with facilities suitable for them. Unfortunately, nobody is linking them to the recommended schools and the children always admire their friends. They stood near the road for help. As a response to this information, CSCQBE made an appeal to the Director of Special Needs Education in the Ministry of Education, asking the Ministry to look into the issues of children with disabilities who are not going to school as their disability is taken as a limitation. With an advocacy role, CSCQBE feels that failing to make education inclusive is counter-productive to the achievement of the Universal Primary Education Goal of the Millennium Development Goal.

In pursuance of its mission and mandate, the CSCQBE secretariat, in collaboration with Lilongwe District Education Network (LIDEN) led by Child Rights Information and Documentation Centre (CRIDOC), set out on a fact-finding mission, which took place on 11th November 2010, to establish more information (details) on the matter. Besides chairing LIDEN, CRIDOC is also an institutional member of CSCQBE. The children in question here were Dorothy Misheki and Madalitso John who hail from Mkoko Village, Traditional Authority Kalolo in Lilongwe.

Objective of the visit The mission of CSCQBE is to contribute towards measurable change in the quality of basic education for all by 2015 through supporting and influencing the implementation of government policy. It was envisaged that recommendations would be drawn from the findings which would inform CSCQBE on the next steps in addressing the issue. This includes forming a basis for further advocacy on special needs education. Specifically, the fact finding visit wished to establish the following: 1. The background of the children 2. The presence of other children with disabilities in the area. 3. The role the community is playing to ensure that children with disabilities are not excluded from basic education 4. Challenges of ensuring that the children with disabilities access education (from local peoples perspective)

Strategy The key methodology used to generate data/information during the fact-finding exercise was basically face-to-face interviews with relevant stakeholders in Mkoko Village.

Ultimately, the approach would be to analyze the information captured from the interviews with a view of establishing more details/facts on the matter. Most significantly, the data collected would be used to inform CSCQBE on the practical recommendations as regards the way forward.

To obtain triangulated information, the following people were interviewed: 1. Parents and relatives of the children 2. The Head teacher of Mkoko Primary Education 2

3. The Chairperson for the Parents/Teachers Association of Mkoko Primary School 4. The Village Headman Mkoko

Meeting with parents The first interviewee was Mrs. Misheki Kamwendo, the mother of six children who was interviewed in the presence of two disabled children, including the husband and her elder son. During the investigation, Mayi Namasauka (Mrs Misheki Kamwendo) gave a background of the ordeal. She has given birth to 8 children. She narrated that there are 3 children in the family who were born deaf, 2 being her daughters and one a grandson. Her daughter, Madetsa, the third born, who was born in 1979, was discovered that she was deaf while she was a baby. Asked how she was discovered, Mayi Namasauka stated that she was surprised her child never cried while she was a baby. They discovered her problem when they noticed she could hardly cry for breastfeeding. When she went to the hospital for assessment, she was told that the child might not speak nor hear. The other child who was born deaf is Dorothy. Dorothy was born in 1998. She was discovered that she was deaf just soon after birth when she was examined by the nurses in the labour ward.

The family explained that they have always been willing to send their children to school. However, their efforts are fruitless in that each year the children are sent back form school on the context that they are deaf. As such, they are now just staying and will grow up without enjoying a right that their fellow children are enjoying, the right to education. Asked whether they knew any childrens rights, the mother was able to articulate and one of the rights she mentioned was the right to education. In striving to ensure that her children are not deprived of this right, the mother explained that for several times she has taken her children to a nearby village of Sinumbe where she heard of a disability NGO. However, for 3 years, she did not get assisted as the NGO was just concentrating on referring children with sight problems to schools of the blind but not deaf children.

The nearest (and only) school the children could go to get an education is Mkoko Primary School. However, Mrs. Misheki explained that each time her younger deaf daughter, Dorothy, and her deaf grandson, Madalitso, are sent to Mkoko Primary School, they are sent back home by their teachers.

She said she was aware of childrens right to education. But she was frustrated that both her daughter and grandson could not get an education. She also revealed that she had tried in vain to seek support from other stakeholders who could offer help. In her own words, this is what she said:

I went to Sinumbe Village where there is a school called Chiwe being coordinated by a charity organisatin that assists disabled children. But I was frustrated to learn that they were only accepting blind children.

Mrs. Misheki said she is illiterate, having attended first class of primary school (standard one) only. She said the family earns a living through farming. They grow tobacco and beans, among other produce.

Dorothy Misheki (centre) with her mother, father and brother at their home at Mkoko

The family also has a boy, Madalitso John who is deaf. Madalitso was born from Madetsa, who is also deaf. As we showed some indications of being surprised with the trends of affairs in the family, the father, Mr Misheki Kazembe explained that their problem is hereditary in that his grandfather 4

was deaf and that his great grandfather was also deaf. He continued to say that his brother who is married in another village has a total of 3 children who are deaf.

Dorothy and Madalitso: These children are in the school going age but cannot access education in their area because there are no facilities or teachers for special needs education at the closest school of Mkoko.

Meeting with Headmaster The meeting with the head teacher was aimed at finding out whether there are children with various disabilities at the school. Mr Patrick Kanyambo, who is the head teacher at the school, explained that according to his records, there are 3 children with disabilities, two of whom are deaf. These are in Standards 1 and 2. With a purpose of triangulating the information with that obtained from the Misheki family, the headmaster was asked to mention the names of the two children but said he does not remember them by name. Asked whether it was true that children who are deaf are sent away from his school, he expressed ignorance and assumed that may be the teachers do but it has never come to his notice. However, he admitted that the childrens parents may have been told about the challenges that exist at the school as there are no special education teachers. He stated that it is not easy to communicate with children who are deaf since there is no one who is specially trained in the area. Asked about the steps he has taken so far, realizing that all children have a right to education, regardless of their status, he said that there was once an opportunity where serving teachers were encouraged to apply for a training vacancy in special needs education that was advertised but no one had applied for it. He however wishes that the government deployed services of special needs education instructors who may be based at school as it is the Teacher Development Centre for Nyanja Education Zone.

The school (i.e. management, PTA, etc) had not made any effort in ensuring that SNE teachers are available despite the fact that Mkoko Full Primary is at the centre of the Nyanja Zone which has 12 other schools and that the Primary Education Advisor (PEA) is resident at Mkoko. So far, the only intervention was that the school managed to consult an eye specialist to deal with sight impairments.

A meeting with the PTA Chairman The next interviewee was the Chairperson of the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) for Mkoka Full Primary School, Mr. Elisa Kadzakumanja. The purpose of interviewing the PTA Chairperson was aimed at finding out the role of the PTA in ensuring that every child enjoys their right to quality education regardless of their physical disability.

The Head Teacher (right) and the Chair person (Mr Elisa Kadzakumanja) for the Parents/Teachers Association

Like the Headmaster, the PTA Chairperson also expressed ignorance at the allegations that Dorothy and Madalitso were being chased away from school. He said he was not aware of such incidents. 6

Mr. Kadzakumanja, however, said many disabled children did not go to school because of cultural attitudes of guardians. He also reiterated the need for the school to have SNE teachers since there was none.

He said issues related to disability are not given high priority. He confessed that this was the first time an organization had visited the Mkoko Primary School and its surrounding community to discuss issues related to special needs education. He however indicated knowledge that it is every childs right to access education.

The meeting with the Group Village headman Group Village Headman (GVH) Mkoko was the last interviewee. The meeting with the village headman was aimed at finding out what his role was in ensuring that no child is deprived of any right, especially the right to education. This is taking into consideration his role as a custodian of policies made by the government on various social aspects. He gave an overview of the number of children with disabilities in the village. His response showed that he does not have concrete records as to how many children of the school going age have disabilities. He also said he was not aware that Dorothy and Madalitso were being chased away from school. He, however, agreed that the deaf children do not go to school mainly because there are no facilities to cater for them. He also said that parents think that the children are helpless and that nothing can be done to enable such access education. Asked what the communitys role is in this situation, the village headman said that they are limited in that they do not have knowledge about schools that cater for children that are deaf.

He said he was aware of his roles as chief, one of which is to follow up with all children who are not going to school. He acknowledged the fact that disabled children often have unique circumstances that can prevent them from learning with other children. He said he had never discussed any issues related to disabled children with teachers. However, GVH Mkoko pledged to mobilize other chiefs to find out how many disabled children are available. Analysis While the guardians of the two disabled children in question, Dorothy and Madalitso, expressed frustration and disappointment that the children could hardly get an education, it was a bit puzzling 7

that all other duty bearers expressed ignorance at the allegations that were leveled against the Mkoko Full Primary School for chasing the children away each time they tried to attend classes.

All other duty bearers the Headmaster, PTA Chairperson, and Group Village Headman said they were not aware that the children had ever been sent back home. However, it is important to mention that the underlying argument is not necessarily about whether the allegations are true or not; it is not about establishing who is right or wrong between the guardians and the other duty bearers. Rather, it is in the core interest of CSCQBE to ensure that the children find their way back into school at all cost.

What the exercise managed to establish was the fact that the guardians of the disabled children were willing to see their children back into the class. This was the most fundamental finding. The interviews revealed that the guardians showed interest/willingness to send them to school. Besides, they were aware of the childrens right to education.

The interviews also revealed the pathetic state of education standards at Mkoko Primary School where there are neither facilities for children with special needs, nor specialized teachers who can teach them.

Recommendations The children being referred here are just a representation of so many children out there who are not accessing education just because they have a disability of a particular type. Malawi recognizes the important role education plays in development of this country. It is in this vein that Malawi ratified various international charters on Education for All. The country also reaffirms its commitment to the call on improvement of the education sector through signing of the Millennium Declaration in September 2000. However, Malawi may not achieve to her Millennium Development Goal on Universal Primary Education if one group of children are not attended to. Therefore, for Malawi to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on education, it is imperative that she makes education inclusive at all cost. A deliberate effort should be made by the government to put focus on special needs education through increasing its budgetary allocation, training more teachers on special needs education (SNE), increasing schools with facilities that carter for children with various disabilities and impairments. 8

In order to make government accountable on ensuring that it provides quality education to its people, including children with disabilities, the following are the recommendations made by CSCQBE:

1. CSCQBE shall, through the District Education Networks an institutional affiliates, mobilize communities at district level, working with the PEA in demanding from Government both teachers (or at least itinerant) and facilities for children with Special Needs in primary schools.

2. CSCQBE shall partner with key stakeholders in the disability sector such as FEDOMA, MANAD, PODCAM, etc to intervene in the case of Dorothy and Madalitso, and of course some other disabled children.

3. CSCQBE urges key stakeholders more especially its institutional members to develop and implement community interventions directed at addressing the challenges the schools within and surrounding Mkoko Village face in relation to the plight of children with special learning needs (disabilities). Projects may include construction of disability-friendly toilets and water points which were not available at both Mkoko Primary School and other schools; construction ramps at Mkoko Primary School and other schools within the vicinity; provision of special needs facilities; provision and/or lobbying for special needs teachers; among other things.

4. In the event that it is not possible for Government to provide special needs facilities and teachers at closer schools such as Mkoko Primary School (in the case of Dorothy and Madalitso), Government or any other key stakeholders should refer Dorothy and Madalitso to a school with special needs facilities, such as Nguludi in Chiradzulu, Muwa in Dedza and St Maria Gorette in Nkhata to pursue primary education.

5. It is also the duty of CSCQBE and other CSOs to engage the media to publicize the plight that Dorothy and Madalitso, as representative of so many children with disabilities, are going through as a result of being denied the opportunity to get an education on the mere account that they are disabled.