Dealing with challenges in school

I have been working as a teacher at primary level for five years since 1\4\2014.    My hobby is reading books, swimming, Cooking.  I like to spend time with my family members, friends and to take care of children with disabilities.

Being in this project has brought a lot of impacts to my life, I have gained a lot of knowledge on how to handle and manage children without using corporal punishment, I have also gained knowledge and competence in the UN Rights, especially on unCRC and unCRPD. Through this , I have met different people from different countries and this has also helped me. We talk and compare our situation on children with disabilities and I have now many options to solve the situation.  Being in this project has also helped me realize the challenges and how to go about them when I get back to Tanzania. "We can’t solve everything now, but we are going to start with small steps\one step at a time. "

Current issues in my school

In every society, there are challenges. My school which is Mtula Primary school in Ileje District in Songwe Region has challenges as well. There are about 430 children which include children with disabilities. Among the children in the school, children with disabilities are the ones with the biggest challenges:

They are faced with discrimination and isolation. They are also denied the right to participate in most of our school activities such as working in the school garden or going for a trip. The school can not admit new children with disabilities because the school cannot accommodate these children. Poor infrastructure also affects these children in my school. Children on wheels finds it difficult to come to the class without assist from other children. Visually impaired children do not have access to study material such as braille machine and the white Cane for support. Most of these children are denied their right to acquire education, because most schools sees them as inactive and could disturb other children. For example, the people with intellectual impairment who lack language, are seen as drawback to the children during teaching and learning process hence it could lead to illiteracy.

How to deal with these challenges in my school

1: I can help to change the way things are being organized  at the school, like a policy, rule or practice. The Equality Act calls this a "provision, or practice". For example, we can ask that rules about coming late to class can be changed or we can help the children adapt to timetables.

2: I can also provide extra aids or services - for example, extra staff assistance by training volunteers in the community, interpreters, specialist equipment like an adapted keyboard or braille for the visually impairment children. For those who do not communicate verbally, I shall prepare different communication aids. Use of pictures, sign language, body postures, written materials, hearing aids, and braille notes to enable effective communication between the teacher and the child.

3: . I will volunteer as a defender of the rights for children with disabilities in my school and in the community.  The local authority and the school must publish and implement plans to improve the accessibility of schools. These plans must also set out how to get access to lessons and school activities. The information should be improved for pupils with disabilities. Parents of these children should ask to see the plan for their child’s schoo, and also which steps have been taken to implement it. In this way, it will help me to reach a big group of people in a short period of time.

I will write some articles concerning the rights of children with disabilities and the best way to protect them from violence and abuse. I shall hold community meetings and I will call upon the targeted group (the children with disabilities and people with disabilities) to join. I will give them a chance to talk about what they think and they want to be done . I will also talk about the rights of children with disabilities in this meeting.

I shall also consult opinion leaders such as politicians, chief, employees, and all powerful people in the locality to organize soliciting fund for this people.

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE:

TRAIN VOLUNTEERS

I shall begin by training the volunteers before I get to start to work with big teams of people from different places because the voluntary work is not that common in my country. So, the trained volunteers will help in educating people on the UNCRC & UNCRPD and shall also help in assisting, caring and being guardians of the children with disabilities at schools and especially in classes.

Speek up – stop discrimination

In every region of the world, in every country, persons with disabilities often live on the margins of society, deprived of some of life’s fundamental experiences. They have little hope of going to school, getting a job, having their own home, creating a family and raising their children, socializing or voting. Persons with disabilities make up the world’s largest and most disadvantaged minority.

IMPROVE THE INFRUSTRUCTURES IN OUR SCHOOLS

I will advise the Schools authority to make sure that all the important equipment for studies are available for all children with disabilities in the school. Like braille machine for the blinds, sensory rooms for the children with intellectual impairment, pictures for all children who lack language, a professional personal for sign language for the pupils with hearing impairment and also the entrances to different rooms should be avaiable for children on wheelchairs.