The Deaf Bulletin 2017 Issue 8
Universal Children‘s Day 2017: Wearing a disability lens in improving educational outcomes.
BY BARBRA NYANGAIRI
The time has come again for Deaf Zimbabwe Trust to celebrate the achievements and challenges of the Deaf and hard of hearing in Zimbabwe. The day was celebrated under a local theme, Communities taking Responsibility for Educational Outcomes.
As we think about educational outcomes, the outcomes of children with disabilities do not come to many people’s minds. The lack of expectation for excellent educational outcomes has meant that families do not have any expectation for children with disabilities.
Consequently, institutions that are responsible for the education of children with disabilities do not have expectations and thus many children with disabilities continue with poor educational outcomes.
Education is empowering and without it children with disabilities are doomed to poverty. As we reflect on the Universal Children’s Day in 2017, people with disabilities are over-represented in the poverty statistics and the root cause is a lack of education. A Jewish proverb says an educated man can never be poor.
To change the future of children with disabilities, we need to think seriously about the educational outcomes of children with disabilities in schools and create a genuinely inclusive educational system in Zimbabwe that supports learning.
Universal Children’s Day was established in 1954 and is celebrated on November 20th each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children’s welfare. On November 20th 1959, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and on the same date in 1989 the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- Child Find Campaign – By Tariro Ndhlovu.
- Knowledge is Power: Cancer screening for Deaf women. – By Rosemary Mundhluli.
- MY EXPERIENCE WITH BVR – By Lucia Masauso