Stakeholders discuss New Inclusive Education Orientation in NW Region
A one-day meeting bringing together key education key stakeholders has taken place at the Nkwen Baptist Center Conference hall. The meeting took place on November 26, 2024 and brought together some Government, Local Council, Regional, Higher and confessional Education authorities, School Administrators and teachers, Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organizations, PTA representatives, Media, and Program Staff.
The meeting was aimed at getting these stakeholders share ideas, experiences, and strategies aimed at creating a new, more effective inclusive education strategy for the Northwest Region under a new initiative titled, “Promoting the Right to Education for Learners with Disabilities Project in the Northwest Region of Cameroon”.
During the meeting, the CBC Health Services SEEPD Program Inclusive Education Advisor, Dr. Bridget Longla presented the SEEPD Program inclusive education strides in the Northwest Region. She said that CBC Health Services has worked tirelessly to improve the learning experience of students with disabilities by providing assistive devices, school fees, and teaching materials. She also disclosed that CBC Health Services has facilitated important infrastructural changes in some schools and advocated for inclusive examination practices, including the brailing of GCE exam questions for visually impaired candidates, and the provision of other reasonable accommodation measures to candidates with different impairments. The SEEPD Education Advisor noted that the gains of the above inputs have been among others increase enrolment of learners with disabilities in schools, increase participation of learners in classroom activities, and increase in success rates for learners with disabilities at end-of-course examinations.
Despite these gains, there are still challenges to realizing inclusive education as desired, Dr. Longla pointed out. These challenges include limited support services and, infrastructural barriers, little community engagement in promoting inclusive education and teaching capacity.
Presenting the new project idea to the participants, Dr. Longla unveiled the overall objective of the new project initiative which is to promote inclusive education and ensure that all children, regardless of their abilities, have equal opportunities to learn and thrive, promoting equity and social justice. According to her, activities proposed for the initiative have been spread across 4 key areas including; improved teacher capacity and inclusive practices, community engagement and policy advocacy, accessible learning and teaching support materials and assistive technology and improved accessibility and infrastructure.
The above presentations were followed by a working session coordinated by Peter Mue, a Consultant and main facilitator during which participants in three groups discussed strategies to attain the above results. At the end of the session, the stakeholders recommended among others, continuous professional development, insertion of inclusive education into the curriculum, inclusion as criteria for selection of text books, infrastructural adjustments, documenting and sharing best practices for replication, advocacy, sensitization and awareness raising on the rights of learners with disabilities to education.
Closing the meeting, the Lead Facilitator thanked participants for their active involvement and brainstorming noting that recommendations which are realistic will be reflected in the new inclusive education project idea.
The SEEPD Program implements its inclusive education activities, thanks to funding from the CBM.
