This is Alex – Tanzanian project participant and agent of change

Alex was born 29 years ago, in Kagera region in Tanzania, where he grew up with his parents, one brother and four sisters. In fact, one of his sisters is a teacher, and his father used to be a teacher, but is now a journalist working in radio broadcasting. Perhaps teaching runs in his family? Nevertheless, Alex is an experienced teacher and a coming ‘special needs teacher’ educated at Patandi Teachers’ College of Special Needs Education.

Alex is an enthusiastic agent of change, now focusing knowledge about children with special needs, their human rights and implementation in Norway. He really wants to contribute to improvement of the situation of children with special needs in Norway as well as in Tanzania. He thinks that many children with disabilities lives poor lives and have poor living conditions in Tanzania. Therefore, though still in Norway, he is planning how to use the new knowledge to improve the situation of children with special needs at his working station, Busami Primary School, in Busega, Simuyu region. 

In particular, Alex is focusing the UN Rights Convention of persons with Disabilities (CRPD), article 24, about the right to inclusive education: https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities/article-24-education.html 

According to Alex, the right to inclusive education is far from implemented in Tanzania. He thinks that a change in mindset in the society is necessary to stop keeping children with disabilities at home instead of sending them to school. The lack of education complicates the life situations for children with special needs, including poor mental and physical health, and even deaths. Furthermore, Alex points out that the practice of corporal punishment at school is discouraging, frightening and damaging the pupils.

When he is back in Tanzania, Alex wants to contribute to the following aims: 

• Create awareness in the society, about the situation of children with disabilities and their human rights
• Stop the practice of keeping of children with disabilities away from school
• Inclusive education for children with special needs at Busami Primary School
• Stop corporal punishment in school, especially at Busami Primary School

He expects to have support from family, friends and superiors in order to contribute to these aims. Such support will be important in his plan about how to inform and educate the society about the situation, the needs and the human rights of children with disabilities. Alex’ preliminary plan is to:

• Ask the village officer and ward officer for permission to convene meetings in villages
•  Ask the head teacher at Busami Primary School for permission to convene staff meeting at the school
• Use mass media, television and radio, for example National Station Tanzania Broadcast Cooperation TBC, to inform and educate the society about the situation, the needs and the human rights of children with disabilities 
• Develop a leaflet and spread it by post and on social media, for example WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram
• Approach the District Executive Officer of Busega as a first step of trying to influence the government that school environment for children with special needs must be improved, and to educate and employ more qualified teachers of special needs education

Alex is a real agent of change. Hopefully, he will achieve his aims, although step by step. This blog will be used to provide news about how his personal project develops in practice, after return to Tanzania.

After this post about Alex, the other project participants and their plans will also be presented on this blog.