By Abubakar Kanjoka
In a quest of promoting equal opportunity for learning and growth among the youth of all diverse groups, Advocacy and Communications Officer for Fount for Nations, Connex Kafera, has urged education authorities to adopt Pamodzi application, recommending that it can help in addressing gaps affecting inclusive education.
Kafera said this on Saturday during the closure of a two-day workshop in Kasungu, where Fount for Nations organisation together with Rays of Hope, were training District Education Management Information Systems (Demis) officers for central region on how they can effectively use the Pamodzi application.
Pamodzi is an android application which was solely developed as a data collection tool for improving inclusive education in Malawi.
In an interview, Kafera said the adoption of advanced technology like Pamodzi application can help education authorities to easily identify and trace all children with special needs so that they have easy access to quality education.
“With the app, data for all the learners who have for the past being excluded or denied opportunities to equal access to education, like those with disabilities, can be easily traceable, thereby making life easy for inclusive education activities.
“Inclusive education is the most effective way to give all children including those with special needs a fair chance to go to school, learn and develop the skills they need to thrive. I recommend the adoption of this application as the first step of ensuring that inclusive and special needs education is of high standard,” he said.
Kasungu Demis Officer, Justina Lutani, welcomed the initiative saying it has come at a time when the district was finding it difficult to track down all the learners with special needs.
“Now that we have familiarised ourselves with the interface, features and functionalities of the app, it will now be easy to record all learners with special needs and help in addressing their challenges,” she said.
Supported by Education Out Loud (EOL), the activity was part of the project called Pamodzi for inclusive Education in South- East Africa (PIESEA) which is being implemented in three countries within the South- East Africa, namely Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania.
The project is aimed at reducing the policy implementation and awareness gaps that exist between inclusive education policies and programming. In Malawi, it is being implemented by Rays of Hope organisation as a lead organisation, in conjunction with Fount for Nation organisation.