The Deaf Bulletin 2016 Issue 6
Hope for Deaf Education – By Precious Nkomo
These are the happy faces of Deaf young adults after their interviews at United College of Education (UCE) in Bulawayo on the 27th of May 2016. This was a life changing experience as this will be the first group of Deaf people to be trained as teachers at UCE.
This year more than 2 500 applicants attended the interviews for admission into UCE’s teacher training programme. Among them were 7 Deaf people who hope to be the pioneers of a cohort of Deaf teachers who will ensure that Deaf children receive quality
education in Sign Language. Being part of this group was very exciting for the Deaf interviewees. Gwendolyn Goredema said that she was happy that she was selected for the interviews and this was a dream come true for her.
Training as a teacher will help her support Deaf learners as well as earn a living and fend for her family. She anticipates an improvement in the educational outcome for Deaf learners once Deaf teachers start teaching Deaf leaners. Recalling her own experience at school, Gwendolyn noted that understanding concepts was very hard because there was no Sign Language. Her
hope is that once these Deaf teachers who are proficient in Sign Language are in the classrooms, understanding concepts will become much easier for Deaf students.
Research conducted by Deaf Zimbabwe Trust on the Educational experiences of Deaf people in Harare showed that Deaf students prefer being taught by a teacher who is Deaf. As such this group of Deaf teachers will be the pace setters for a brighter future for Deaf students. They will be role models and source of motivation for the Deaf Community. Deaf students will look up to them and students will be motivated to become teachers as well.
Other topics covered in this bulletin are:
- The Deaf and the Justice System – By Barbra Nyangairi.
- World Blood Donor Day – 14 June 2016 By Rosemary Mundhluli.
- My Story: Martin Rinoona