Minister urges TTC to train more special needs teachers

Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Agnes NyaLonje has encouraged management of Machinga Teachers’ Training College (TTC) to make special needs course fully fledged at the training institution.

Speaking during a visit to the college on Tuesday, NyaLonje said she was happy to note that the higher learning institution is able to produce teaching and learning materials in braille.

NyaLonje said the country needs to have more special needs teachers who can be role models to learners with disabilities.

“Some parents with children with disabilities don’t see the value of education for their children because they haven’t seen any educated person with disabilities,” she said.

“We need to train more teachers with disabilities so that they inspire children with disabilities to work hard in their education,” she added.

NyaLonje, however, said the number of teachers with disabilities is very much lower such that it cannot meet the demand of children in need of special needs education, saying on its part, government will put in place policies and strategies that can enhance special needs education.

Special Needs Lecturer at Machinga TTC, Felix Makolija, said the college has trained 142 special needs teachers since 2010.

“Most of the special needs teachers are those with visual and hearing impairments. On average, we graduate three to five special needs teachers,” Makolija said.

Machinga TTCs Acting Principal, Eneless Sipanala said the college in consultation with other stakeholders has developed a concept paper on special needs education.

“We have also developed a curriculum on special needs education whereby 57 modules have been drafted and we are waiting for the ministry to give us an approval to recruit more staff for special needs education,” Sipanala said.

She also said the college has managed to purchase some special needs teaching and learning materials such as 10 braille machines, 10 desktops and one audio meter, among others.

She, however, expressed concern with the water scarcity at the learning institution, saying with Covid-19, it is even challenging for the college to comply with hand washing preventive measures.

Since the college opened in 2005, it has produced 7,031 teachers out of whom 2,686 are female and 4,345 males.

credit: Mana