DZT in drive to empower the deaf

17 Feb, 2019 - 00:02 0 Views
DZT in drive to empower the deaf Ms Barbra Nyangairi

The Sunday News

Judith Phiri, Sunday News Reporter
THE Deaf Zimbabwe Trust (DZT) is appealing for financial assistance to be able to enroll deaf students for teacher-training programmes in a bid to empower them.

DZT is an organisation that promotes the empowerment of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was formed and registered as a trust in 2012 and began operations in 2013. In an interview, DZT executive director

Ms Barbra Nyangairi said the number of students registered at colleges were low due to financial contracts and few institutions that were accommodating the deaf students.

“The deaf teacher-training programmes are still ongoing and we have about 10 students who registered for training this year and, we also made sure that there are interpreters and note takers who will assist the students.

“Due to financial constraints numbers of those who enrolled are still low, we hope in future more students can be accommodated. In terms of the new disability budget that came out last year we are yet to see with the new developments if there are areas lacking or it will cover most gaps that were created the previous years,” Ms Nyangairi.

She said other higher learning institutions were accepting deaf students but they were appealing to more institutions to accommodate the students.

“For higher learning institutions some deaf students have been welcomed at the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) and the Women University in Africa (WUA) and they have been very helpful by providing interpreters for the students.

We acknowledge the vast challenges standing on the way, but we remain resolute in fighting for inclusivity, hence we are still engaging more institutions so that the uptake numbers increase as currently about 10 students were registered,” she said.

Ms Nyangairi said the organisation was working with health departments to offer sign language training to health care workers after the realisation that there is a communication gap between deaf people and health care providers.

National Disability Board vice-chair Mr Edward Mundanga bemoaned the lack of inclusivity in the education sector.

“The deaf and dumb to be registered at the United College of Education (UCE) have to produce 5 O-levels including English Language. A pass in English Language which is a mandatory requirement by the college is very difficult for a person who is deaf or dumb and those with hearing impairment because there is no way you can speak English to these people but only sign language.

“This has resulted in that most deaf and dumb people failing to go beyond primary school as most secondary schools and tertiary institutions do not offer Sign Language and that’s a challenge.

“We should lobby for the Government to consider scrapping English Language as a requirement for someone who is deaf and dumb to be trained as a special education teacher. This will enable more teachers to be able to teach deaf and dumb students in different districts,” said Mr Mundanga.

“People with disabilities have been marginalised and the deaf more so due to communication barriers they face.

“As a country we have been re-progressive with regards to recognition of sign language, this therefore hinders them from being at par with their non-disabled counterparts.”

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