By HOPE BWALYA –
THE Zambia Open Community Schools (ZOCS) has hailed Government’s policies on inclusive education for children living with disabilities.
According to a research conducted by ZOCS on ‘Zambian policies on inclusive education for learners with Special Education Needs (SEN),
it showed that Government had put up favourable policies that enhanced the education of children with disabilities.
The research showed that existing policies on inclusive education of children with disabilities showed detailed steps of educating the learners with disabilities.
“The existing policies like the Disability Act of 2012, gives detailed steps in education for learners with disabilities. The policies have also helped in the development of special education portfolios at various levels of Government and helped in curriculum design to include learners with special education needs,” it said.
The Disability Act of 2012 provides for inclusive and segregated education, bursaries to learners with disabilities and support to parents.
The policies also allowed a parent to be fined if he or she did not take the learner with disabilities to school.
Other policies include the National Policy on Disability of 2013 and the National Implementation Framework NIF III (2011-2015).
The research also showed that the policies also gave guidelines on construction of infrastructure that would be inclusive and favourable for learners with disabilities.