Enrolment in special needs classes drops
GOVERNMENT has bemoaned the sharp decline in the enrolment of teachers for Special Needs Education (SNE) with that at the United College of Education in Bulawayo falling from more than 60 students to five over four years.
There is a high need of SNE teachers in the country’s primary and secondary schools in line with the all-inclusive curriculum.
Special needs classes cater for children with severe learning difficulties, arising from physical or behaviourial challenges.
Addressing guests at the 49th graduation ceremony at the UCE yesterday, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo said while the college had recorded commendable growth in other disciplines, the decline in SNE enrolment was regrettable.
“It is regrettable, however, that there has been a 50 percent decline in the number of in-service Special Needs Education graduands. I am informed that their number dropped from 67 in 2013 to 56 in 2014, 43 in 2015, 26 in 2016 and today we have only 13 who are graduating,” said Prof Moyo.
“I’m told that this decline, among other reasons, is due to competitors on the market; such as the Reformed Church University and Great Zimbabwe University who offer a higher qualification than the diploma at UCE.
“This is despite the fact that UCE has competitive advantage of having better, if not the best, technological equipment, infrastructure and teaching competency to enable it to stand up to the competition in the provision of Special Needs Education,” said Prof Moyo.
Prof Moyo challenged the institution to offer a degree in Special Needs Education through Open Distance Learning to increase enrolment as teachers would study while at their work stations.
From the 491 graduands who graduated yesterday, 354 were from the General course, 124 from Early Childhood Development and only 13 from SNE, nine of them female and four males.
“Our Ministry has also given UCE the mandate to directly enrol teachers into the Special Needs Education programme. The Ministry is aware of the infrastructure challenge facing UCE,” said Prof Moyo.
He said to assist with the construction of the requisite infrastructure for SNE, the Government had engaged a Lead Financial Advisor to raise resources to support the Ministry’s thrust to develop and train high-end skills at teachers colleges to support Zimbabwe`s industrialisation and modernisation.
Prof Moyo said tertiary institutions should take advantage of the infrastructure bonds to construct stemitised laboratories and modernised accommodation for students and lecturers.
UCE Principal Mr Adam Luthuli said the SNE enrolment continued to dwindle as they had only five students in the present intake.
Mr Luthuli said they had come up with an intervention called the Inclusive and Special Education Needs (ISEN).
“The new breed of teacher to be produced through the ISEN programme has the versatility to teach the regular learners as well as learners with special educational needs. We believe our ISEN teacher is the teacher for tomorrow,” said Mr Luthuli.
The college principal said they were working on increasing minority languages and they had already come up with draft for the Nambya syllabus which had already been sent to the University of Zimbabwe for approval.
The ceremony also saw the inaugural graduation of ChiTonga students which was also witnessed by Senator Chief Nkathazo Siansole.
University of Zimbabwe Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Pedzisai Mashiri said the Tonga students who had graduated with diplomas from UCE could now enrol for a Bachelor’s degree at their institution and would immediately enrol as second year students.
The graduation ceremony held under the theme “Creating an adaptable 21st Century teacher for sustainable development was attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, principals from other teachers’ colleges as well as polytechnics among other guests.
Since the college’s inception, a total of 15 509 students have graduated, 11 628 graduated in the General Course Programme, 2 005 in ECD and 1 876 in SNE.