Ministry sets inclusive education target
Ministry of Education says government is working to improve inclusive education in the country by the year 2030.
The ministry’s deputy director for inclusive education Lucy Magagula said this in Lilongwe on Thursday when the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) Synod of Livingstonia Education Department held a dissemination conference for its Inclusive Education project titled Promoting Equal Access to Education in Malawi.
She said government in collaboration with other stakeholders have made strides in ensuring that learners with disabilities go to school.
Said Magagula: “Our focus is to ensure that in the next five years, inclusive education should be in practice and not in theory.
She said numbers for special needs learners have been increasing every year, which demands more investment from stakeholders to ensure that all learners have access to quality education.
“Currently, there are 193 880 learners with disabilities in primary schools, 11 521 learners in secondary schools and 229 in tertiary education institutions. However there are also others that have not been captured,” said Magagula.
On her part, CCAP Synod of Livingstonia’s Promoting Equal Access to Education in Malawi project manager Atupele Nampota said for Malawi to make progress on inclusive education, there is need for community engagement.
The development comes when the teacher-to-learners with special needs ratio is one teacher to 20 learners instead of the required 1 teacher to 10 learners.
However, Magugala said government is training additional teachers as the goal is to have special needs education teachers in every school.
She also commended the CCAP Synod of Livingstonia for helping in ensuring that children with disabilities go to school through the project is.
