Employ more disabled persons, says ZAFOD
THE Zambia Federation of Disability Organisations (ZAFOD) has appealed to Government to sustain and increase the employment of qualified Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) as teachers.
ZAFOD director Justin Bbakali said it was a wellknown fact that most teachers with disabilities served Government for a longer period as they focus on securing their job, mainly because they were hardly considered for employment outside civil service.
Mr Bbakali said as the federation joined the rest of the world in commemorating Teachers’ Day yesterday, government should consider employing more persons with disabilities as teachers who had challenges in finding jobs elsewhere.
“ZAFOD is appealing to government to sustain and increase the employment of qualified PWDs as teachers, a move which has proven to be hugely beneficial to government through high retention rates among teachers with disabilities,” Mr Bbakali said.
He also noted that the teaching fraternity in
Zambia was not spared by the covid-19 pandemic, a situation that sent most teachers on leave without pay, some teachers of course were victims of the pandemic especially that teachers were among front-liners.
Mr Bbakali also called on teacher unions to take into account that teachers with disabilities had extra needs such as higher cost of transportation, assistive devices and other requisites as they go about negotiating with employers.
“We therefore call on all teacher unions to include persons with disabilities in their organization structures to ensure disability mainstreaming,” he said.
The federal director also appealed to various District Education Boards (DEBS) across the country to ensure all schools were disability friendly by having in place ramps, sufficient lighting, wide doors and many other assisitive equipment that teachers and learners with disabilities may use in their course of teaching and learning.
He said ZAFOD had for a long time observed the poor rate of promotions on teachers with disabilities, who unfortunately ended up retiring as class teachers when they deserve promotions just like any other teacher.
In line with this year’s theme ‘Teachers at the Heart of Education Recovery’, he said, we expect teachers to pay extra attention to learners with special education needs as they hardly benefitted from E-learning services during COVID-19 restrictions and call on government, through the ministry of education, to come up with a deliberate policy that will promote teachers with disabilities to further their education.
ZAFOD is appealing to government to sustain and increase the employment of qualified PWDs as teachers, a move which has proven to be hugely beneficial to government through high retention rates among teachers with disabilities.