Youth group cautions on compulsory subjects
Youths with visual impairments have challenged government’s decision to introduce compulsory science subjects in secondary schools, saying the policy is illegal as facilities in most public schools do not incorporate the needs of blind learners.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology recently said government plans to roll out compulsory enrolment for science subjects to make Malawi one of the technologically advanced countries.
But national vice-chairperson of the Malawi Union of the Blind (MUB) Youth Wing William Afaki has observed that the requirement will apply to sighted students only because there are no facilities in public schools to allow for the inclusion of visually-impaired learners.
Speaking on the sidelines of a one-day youth forum in Blantyre on Thursday, Afaki said it will be unfortunate for government to ‘implement a policy that discriminates against a certain section of the society’.
“I don’t expect that an inclusive government would implement that policy because even if indeed Malawi achieves her socio-economic aspirations using this policy, they will remain exclusive to people with sight,” said Afaki.
He said already government is grappling with the problem of lack of special needs education teachers in public schools.
Afaki said it is wrong for government to go ahead with the policy without dealing with problems that prevent the blind from benefitting from quality education initiatives.
“We are not against the subjects, per se. But what we need are measures to ensure that the blind, too, benefit from this policy. Malawi shouldn’t achieve her economic development at the expense of visually-impaired people,” he said.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Education Rebecca Phwitiko admitted that blind students are raising valid issues, but said the ministry will not implement the policy until “their issues are looked into.”
He said the ministry is working with other stakeholders to iron out issues that may discriminate against the blind.
