We are… ensuring pre-schools are inclusive

“I have been teaching since 2004. Currently, I teach at the community-based childcare centre in Makwangwala in Malawi. What makes me happy is when the children I teach go on to primary school and do very well in their class. This is what motivates me.

“We had some training from Sightsavers where we learned how to take care of children with and without disabilities, so we could teach them all at once. This helped me, because at first, I couldn’t manage to teach the children with and without disabilities all together. But after the training, I know how.

“Children with disabilities face challenges in and outside of school. Outside, they are discriminated against. In school, girls especially need help when they get older. During [their] periods, girls with disabilities need assistance with their pads. To be in school with their friends, they need this help, or they end up just staying home. But when children come to school, their lives slowly change.”

“I realised that my grandson, Jonathan, had an eye problem,” says Rose. “When he went to school, the teacher identified his disability. He couldn’t see the same as his friends and the teacher explained this to me.”

After speaking to the teacher, Rose started sending Jonathan to an inclusive school. “I saw changes in him, even at home. He was becoming active, he knew how to read, he was playing football with his friends and was riding on the seesaw. He was also easily following with instructions that I gave, like ‘sweep here’. He was able to do this.

“Through the school, he can now read… when you give him a book, he opens the page and reads. And I know that there is indeed a change and his education is progressing well.”

All images © Sightsavers/Homeline Media