Mabingwa wa Elimu Jumuishi/Inclusive Education Champions

• In Event: Community interventions for making inclusive education work – Key experiences and learnings

Proposal

eKitabu delivers accessible digital content and innovative programs for inclusive and quality education across 14 countries in Africa. The educational impact of learning materials is eKitabu’s foundation and on that proven foundation we innovate, designing with users and collaborators from both public and private sectors, to increase accessibility and lower cost for inclusive and equitable quality education. eKitabu builds a sustainable ecosystem that includes ministries of education, international development partners, technology firms, and local organizations, including organizations of persons with disabilities.

eKitabu is working with with RTI-Tanzania under the Jifunze Uelewe (JU) project funded by USAID, which aims to build teachers’ capacity and develop a cadre of inclusive education champions, in Kiswahili, “Mabingwa wa Elimu Jumuishi”, while also working to strengthen the Tanzania education system with government officials through inclusive education concepts in teaching and learning.

eKitabu is providing Teacher Professional Development workshops across 5 regions to teachers in special schools on 1) Universal Design for Learning (UDL), 2) utilization of accessible digital content (including EPUB technology), and the use Orbit Reader 20 refreshable Braille display devices, all so that education is more inclusive of all learners, especially those who are deaf/hard of hearing or blind/low vision.

eKitabu is also developing formative assessment tools and approaches for teachers of learners who are deaf/hard of hearing and blind/low vision to conduct regular progress monitoring in order to compare student progress against norms, benchmarks, and learning skills that have been taught through eKitabu trainings and accessible digital content developed in Tanzania.

In this presentation, we would like to highlight the impact of the cadre of Mabingwa wa Elimu Jumuishi and how the assessment tools are helping these inclusive education champions to identify where they can better support learners with and without disabilities in classrooms with the skills they are learning in the Teacher Professional Development workshops.

Author

• Leah Wanjiru Nguata, eKitabu