Universal Children‘s Day 2017: Wearing a disability lens in improving educational outcomes

By Barbra Nyangairi 

Deaf Zimbabwe Trust together with the rest of Zimbabwe celebrated the Universal Children’s Day 2017 in a reflective way. 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 overrepresented 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.  

Other topics in this bulletin:

• Child Find Campaign  
• Cancer Screening for Deaf women  
• My BVR Experience