By Jackline Mpunjo | Project Coordinator
Sports Development Aid is still in the process of finding funders for its inclusive Education and Sports Centre where people of all abilities can enjoy sports and various education courses. While we look for the funds, we started to collect more information about the state of Health Education and Sports in schools for students with disabilities, thus, we went to the field and visited schools conducting inclusive education in Mtwara region.
We started our research by visiting officials and we met the Education Officer of special needs education, Mr. Tufanye. “This special group needs extra care because they are forgotten in society. For example, there are only a few teachers who are specialized to teach this group of people in our schools. Lack of teachers makes students with special needs not to participate in sports and leads to a lack of adequate health education for them. The government does its best, but other stakeholders have to help this group too.”
From the officials, we continued to meet teachers and students in Mustapha Sabodo secondary school, a special school for inclusive education in Mtwara. There are several students with different impairments such as: albinism, hearing impairment, vision impairment and various physical impairments. “The school needs more specialized teachers. Due to a small number of special teachers, many of the students with disabilities fail in school, consequently, staying only at home and causing a burden for their families. We think that SDA’s Education Centre is highly needed because it can educate and create more jobs for this special group.” – Second master Sabodo secondary school.
People’s with disabilities rights to education and civic participation is drastically undermined. Lack of qualified teachers in schools prevent students with special needs to succeed in their studies and are left behind. Without education they can’t obtain employment and become financially independent, thus, they stay dependent on their parents and relatives and the stigma of children with disabilities being a burden for the family remains.
The following quotation of a girl student with a hearing impairment in Sabodo illustrates well the fact that people with disabilities are very forgotten and vulnerable group of people in Tanzania. “We are so happy to see you today, we appreciate your visit. This shows how much you care about us. There are so many people with disabilities who are not lucky to be in school like us. We are very sure that even some of us will come to your center. This inspires us a lot to see that some people do care about our future.”
Help us to help them.
By Jackline Mpunjo & Anu Nieminen | Project Coordinators
By Anu Nieminen | Project Coordinator
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