Disabled criticise education system

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THE NATIONAL Council of Disabled Persons of Zimbabwe (NCDPZ) Bulawayo Chapter has condemned the government’s inclusive education programme

THE NATIONAL Council of Disabled Persons of Zimbabwe (NCDPZ) Bulawayo Chapter has condemned the government’s inclusive education programme saying it further perpetuates the stigmatisation and exclusion of persons with disabilities from the education system.

NDUDUZO TSHUMA STAFF REPORTER

NCDPZ Bulawayo held a special general meeting in Bulawayo on Saturday where members questioned the government’s inclusive education system, which encourages people with various forms of disabilities to attend ordinary schools without ensuring the provision of specialist teachers..

This, the organisation said, deprived students with disabilities access to quality education.

“Persons with disabilities and parents of students with disabilities who attended the meeting said besides the absence of specialist teachers, some school facilities are not accessible thus limiting the movement of some students with disabilities,” the organisation said in a statement.

“When disabled students wish to go to the toilets or move to the next room, they have to beg for assistance from their peers who in most cases view them as a burden.”

Participants felt that institutions which offered special education courses for teachers should ensure that their own facilities are accessible to persons with disabilities.

NCDPZ also noted that a number of people with disabilities were not attending school as a result of poverty.

“The meeting blamed local authorities whose by-laws do not include the enforcement of accessible buildings as per provisions of the Disabled Persons Act of 1992 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified by the Zimbabwean government on September 23, 2013,” read the statement.

NCDPZ president Obadiah Moyo challenged people living with disabilities to dismantle all forms of oppression against them by organising themselves into community-based consumer rights groups.

Moyo said sound education and training was one weapon people with disabilities could use to emancipate themselves from the yoke of poverty.

He said ignorance, self-pity and laziness were enemies of people who wanted to lead independent lives.

Moyo said NCDPZ was working on a national strategy to engage the government on the domestication of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.