CBC Health Services Director counts inclusive education promotion achievements.

He was speaking during the launch of the 2023 edition of the awareness campaign of families and communities of children with disabilities dubbed “We Ring the Bell”. The campaign was launched May 4, 2023.

Organised in Yaounde, the ceremony was chaired by the Minister of Social Affairs, Pauline Irene Nguene. This was in the presence of the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Prof Marie Therese Abena Ondoua, and a host of other stakeholders.

The annual campaign was placed this year under the theme: “From Policy to Practice; Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities”.

In his address, Prof Tih said the theme chosen by the Ministry of Social Affairs, calls on all stakeholders to pause and take stock of what their talkings and campaigning for the past years have enabled them to achieve. 

According to him, through the partnership with the Ministries of Social Affairs, Basic Education, Secondary Education and some institutions of Higher Learning in Cameroon, the CBC Health Services has achieved remarkable progress in the domain of inclusive education. 

It was gathered that the achievements are categorised in the domains of capacity building and recruitment of inclusive education teachers, provision of scholarships and assistive devices; sensitisation and awareness raising.

With regards to capacity building, he said the CBCHS in partnership with the Regional Delegations for Basic and Secondary Educations in the North West and West Regions, has built the capacities of 288 teachers to be able to teach learners with impairments and those without impairment in the same classroom.

They have also recruited and are supporting the payment of the salary of 15 special needs teachers in schools in the North West, West, Centre, East and Far North Regions to enable the regular teachers to better teach children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms.  

In addition, he said the CBCHS has created 10 inclusive school clubs with student ambassadors to champion inclusive education in their schools. 

Regarding the provision of scholarships and assistive devices, Prof Tih said with the support from the Liliane Foundation, they provide yearly scholarships to 2,500 learners with disabilities which covers their school fees in private schools, didactic materials and assistive devices like crutches, braille, slates, styluses, talking clocks, and talking calculators, to enable the learners study comfortably in the same classrooms like their peers without impairment.

Besides creating 200 parent support groups in nine Regions, grouping more than 2,000 parents of learners with disabilities who share experiences and solutions to inclusive education in Cameroon, he stated that the CBCHS has successfully piloted inclusive education in two of the largest government schools in the West Region.

He said the institution has also provided technical and material support to the GCE Board as well as providing school buses through partnership with MIVA to enable them transport children with disabilities to schools and back.

Challenges faced

He however regreted that inspite of the successes, there are still challenges which prevent the CBCHS from completely attaining its objectives and contributing to government’s achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal, SDG number 4. 

He cited challenges like educational infrastructure not adapted to learners with disabilities, the Cameroon Education Curriculum not adjusted to the needs of learners with disabilities, limited number of inclusive schools and teachers and ignorance of the 2010 law on disabilities by some school authorities leading to the refusal to admit children with disabilities in some public schools.

While commiting to ensure that inclusive education is practiced, Prof Tih urged Yaounde to accelerate the movement from policy to practice.