1. EDUCATION OF THE DEAF IN MALAWI Presented by Delix Missinzo, Univerzita Karlova z praze 30 th October, 2015

2. Introduction  Facts  Deaf education –history  Policy issues in Malawi  Achievements  Challenges  Conclusion

3. facts

4.  Malawi- southern Part of Africa  Total area118,480 sq. km  Borders Mozambique to East and South, Tanzania to the North and Zambia to the West

5. facts Agriculture based economy

6. Agriculture

8. tourism

10. Lake Malawi

11. tourism

13. Mulanje mountain 3,000 ft

14. facts Minerals resources: -Gas -oil have found on lake Malawi -Limestone -unexploited uranium -niobium -rare earth -coal -hydropower

15. Montfort Special Needs Education College  Education Centre for the Deaf was opened at Mary view in 1971  Missionary influence- Dutch from Holland  Objective was to teach oral training to deaf children  Three special schools were established by 1997  Three more special schools opened after 2000

16. History of deaf children before 1970  Associated with medical model  Parents never accepted to have a deaf child  Could be hidden in a house  Less considered in the family  Families could go a period of stress  Kirk (2012) share similar observations of denial, bargaining and acceptance processes

17. History of deaf children after 1970  Education only in special schools  Used oral method  Identification was not easy  Placement was not adequate  Many children on waiting list  Long distances from home to school  Transition from special school to integration very difficult

18. History of deaf children after 1970  Deaf children in special schools -Deaf students only taught by specialist teacher -Pure oral -No contact with hearing peers -Many fail national examinations -No vision for their future

19. History of deaf children after 1970  Deaf students in integration -Only taught by TOD in a unit -little contact with hearing students -Examination based on affirmative action -Many fail national examinations

20. History of deaf children after 1970  Deaf students at home -Pure oral -parents not oriented how to use speech reading -communication is based on gestures

21. History of deaf children after 1970  Deaf children in secondary schools -Pure oral -no sign language interpreters -specialist teachers cannot do everything -limited cooperation with hearing teachers -many fail national examinations -future life not fully prepared/no vocational skills

22. History of deaf children after 1970  Sign language advocated by the Malawi National Association of the Deaf (MANAD)  MANAD organizes sign language training for Deaf Students outside the school during holidays  MANAD has no contact with special schools  Parent Organization of Disabled Children in Malawi (PODCAM) formed  Dictionary for MSL not available

23. Policy issues in Malawi Policy Constitution of Malawi 2006 Access to higher education 2015 Ratification of CRPD 2009 SNE Policy 2009 Disability Act 2012 Equalization of opportunities 2006

24.  Disability Act 2012 “ensuring that persons with disabilities are not excluded from the general education system at all levels and have access to quality primary education. taking into consideration the special requirements of persons with disabilities in the formulation of educational policies and programmes, including the provision of assistive devices, teaching aids and learning support assistant” “developing a Malawi sign language as a national language for persons with hearing impairments and recognizing it as an official language”

25. Achievements  NGO support  Policies enacted ie free primary education  More specialist teachers of the deaf (TOD)trained  More resource centers opened  Sign language accepted  Emphasis these days is on inclusion

26. Challenges  Lack of early identification and intervention  “children with disabilities remain one of the main groups being widely excluded from quality education.” https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6 7664/edu-chi-disabil-guid-note.pdf  Research conducted by Schneider (2009) found that support given to learners with disabilities is not adequate despite international effort.

27. Challenges  Delayed academic progression Deaf students experience delay in academic progression  Class sizes there are bigger class sizes in Malawi  Defective medium of instruction Teachers are not sure what medium of instruction to use in class  Poor placement profound deaf students and hard of hearing students in the same class No effective placement producers  Limited funding and allocation of resources

29. Learning environment

30. Challenges  Completion of secondary and tertiary a problem contrary to article 24 (5)  Limited personnel ie sign language interpreters, specialist teachers  According to SINTEF report documented in 2003, Malawi experiences high prevalence of disability which has greatly impacted social economic status among the affected (Eide & Loeb, 2004).

31. Challenges  Equality in education is difficult to achieve contrary to policy on the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities (Ministry of Social Development & Persons with Disabilities, 2006).  Policy implementation rhetoric ie no MSL  Negative attitude of teachers, managers and parents  Labeling  No role models

32. Prospects  Establishing more resource centers for the Hard of Hearing  Empowering Montfort Special Needs Education College to share the expertise ie Audiology Clinic, Early Identification and Intervention teams to redefine their new roles

33. prospects  Lobbying for more policy changes from the government to improve on funding  Expanding collaboration between Montfort and other partners for information sharing  More collaboration with NGOs ie HLF in a solidarity project for the Hard of Hearing

34. prospects

35. CONCLUSION  Transform roles of special schools  Advocate for MSL training  restructure initial teacher training  Implement the policy on inclusion  Lobby more support from government and international partners  Raise awareness on deafness

36. REFERENCES Eide, E. & Loeb, M (eds) (2004). Living Conditions among people with activitylimitations inMalawi: A National Representative Survey. Oslo: SINTEF. Handicap International (2014). Including disability in HIV policy and programming:Good practices drawn from country – based Evidence. http://www.hiproweb.org/uploads/tx_hidrtdocs/DisabilityAndHI V_LL07http://www.hiproweb.org/uploads/tx_hidrtdocs/DisabilityAndHI V_LL07 Retrieved on 16 th May, 2015 Kirk, S., Gallagher, J.J. & Coleman, M.R., Anastasiow, N. (2012). Educatingexceptional children (13 th ). Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Malawi Government (2012). Disability Act. Lilongwe: Malawi Government.

37. References Ministry of Education (2001). Policy Investment Framework. Lilongwe: Republic of Malawi. Ministry of Education (2009). Guidelines for implementation of Special Needs Education in Malawi. Lilongwe: Republic ofMalawi. Ministry of Social Development & Persons with Disability (2006). National Policy onEqualization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. Lilongwe: Republic ofMalawi. Schneider, C. (2009). Equal is not enough. Current Issues in Inclusive Education inthe eyes of children. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1 (1), 1-14.