The Catholic University of Malawi is eying a partnership with the Livingstonia Synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (C.C.A.P.) to train teachers on special needs education in the central and northern regions of the country.
Speaking during the proposal meeting of the partnership on Tuesday this week, the Head of the Special Needs Education Department Jennipher Ngwira said the partnership seeks to improve the quality of education for students living with disabilities in the country.
“This partnership is very important because it is centred on capacity building for teachers who are teaching regular subjects, and the Catholic University will be teaching these teachers issues to do with disability, supporting methods that are required for children living with disability, and other areas within special needs education, so that at the end of the day, these lectures can equip them with knowledge, skills, and expertise,” said Ngwira.
She added that the training will help the country increase support for learners living with disabilities.
Ngwira further commended the Livingstonia Synod Education Department for settling for the Catholic University of Malawi to train teachers on special needs in the two regions of Malawi.
Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for the Inclusive Education Project for the Livingstonia Synod, Atupele Nampota, said the partnership will complement the existing initiative done by the Education Department to equip teachers with knowledge and skills used for teaching learners living with disabilities.
“We were looking for an institution of higher learning that has expertise to be able to give capacity building to the teachers, and when we did a study, we settled on Catholic University, and we were given the go-ahead with an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding),” said Nampota.
Nampota added that Synod targets training 110 teachers from the five districts of Chitipa, Karonga, Nkhotakota, Kasungu, and Nkhata-bay with special needs education.
The Catholic University of Malawi is among the few institutions of higher learning offering special needs education in Malawi. The university offers diploma and degree programmes to generic (full-time) and weekend (part-time) students in the country.