Towards Public Policy Reform in the Education Sector in Zimbabwe: The Case for Special Needs Education Involving Children with Intellectual Disability and other Learning Difficulties

Abstract

The paper reviewed on the challenges associated with the delivery of education to students with special needs with a particular focus on students with intellectual disability (ID) and other learning difficulties (LD) in Zimbabwe. The area of special needs education had been neglected by government since independence in 1980 as the review shall demonstrate. Emphasis was focused on mainstream education which registered phenomenal growth in quantitative and qualitative terms. Although the Zimbabwe Education Act provides for the right of every child to school education in line with the Constitution of Zimbabwe, there were many limitations on government which prevented the implementation of this noble national objective. The new Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.20) Act, 2013 under Chapter 4, section 75 prescribes a basic right to state-funded education, including adult basic education but the letter and spirit of this constitutional provision had not been implemented with respect to the education of disabled children. Education of persons with disability had been addressed by a general education law, that is Education Act( Chapter 25:04) which applies to mainstream education and the Disabled Persons Act (Chapter 17:01) in the absence of a Special Needs Education Act. Although the Zimbabwe government adopted and implemented a policy of inclusive education, in reality the policy was inclusive by default, rather than by design due to limited human, material, financial and infrastructural resources to cater for children with special needs. This article explores the current state of special needs education in Zimbabwe as the basis for policy intervention.