VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe — Gladys Mafa, a 26-year-old vendor, earns $5 to $7 each day after selling her wares. She has to take $3 from those profits to transport her son to school every school day. Her child, who is disabled, cannot walk long distances.

Mafa’s daily experience is not isolated in a community without inclusive public schools for students with disabilities. Zimbabwe has few schools that cater to children with special needs, resulting in parents sending their children to public schools without the facilities and sometimes withdrawing them altogether.

“What irks me most is not the daily transport fare, but that after arriving at school, teachers are not experienced and facilities are not friendly for learners with disabilities,” Mafa said.

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As a result of this worsening situation, a former Catholic nun named Plaxedes Yeyani Ndlovu, 39, founded a not-for-profit organization, Girls Way of Life Charitable Trust, to help parents in these situations. The trust has established an inclusive school in Victoria Falls named Mother of all Humanity Private School to provide education solely for children with disabilities. In fact, without support from the government, Ndlovu has managed to establish the first academic institution in Matabeleland North that provides education for children with disabilities.

With the introduction of specialist classes for learners with mild or severe special needs, the Ministry of Education operationalized integration in 1990.

“Intended for children with varying degrees of disabilities and special education placement and procedures for special classes, resource units and special education schools," was the purpose of the new law, which introduced special education provision in ordinary schools. However, the facilities are mostly absent from towns and rural areas. Creating such programs has been sluggish. In the 2016-20 education sector strategic plan, the African country’s Ministry of Education committed to develop an inclusive education policy that would also address the issues of early identification of needs, infrastructure requirements, teacher training, financing and monitoring.

Without tangible outputs from the plan in her home district, Ndlovu — after having worked in the Catholic church as a religious sister for 16 years — from 2003 to 2019 in which she was involved in various church projects. It was then that she started working on bringing an alternative inclusive school. Her experience (she holds a teaching diploma and specializing in disability studies from Zimbabwe Open University) helped the initiative grow.

Opened in 2021 with less than 20 students, the school has seen massive growing. The school currently enrolls students with disabilities from age two to 30 to the relief of many parents in the area. With a trained staff in special needs Ndlovu’s school provides a wonderful place for children who have suffered neglect and discrimination over the years.

“We started from the humble beginnings of having a burden and feeling a responsibility on promotion inclusion in schools. We now provide education curriculum from the kindergarten to tertiary education. We feel that these children are members of our community with a right to acquire quality education,” Ndlovu said, paying bills at first with her savings.

According to Article 22 of the country’s constitution, all governmental organizations and agencies, regardless of level, are required to acknowledge the rights of individuals with physical or mental disabilities (including the right to education) and help them realize their full potential in order to lessen the disadvantages they face.

“We wouldn’t want to send our children to schools exclusively of learners with disability but in mixed environment,” Mafa said. “Unfortunately, there are no facilities for them. In response to them, we are indebted to Sister Yeyani, she is not only providing quality education but providing life skills opportunities which are crucial.”

In 1996, Zimbabwe became one of the first nations in Africa to enact laws pertaining to disabilities. People with disabilities are given provisions for their welfare and rehabilitation under the 1996 Disabled Persons Act. This provision allows for the filing of criminal charges against institutions that turn away students on the grounds of a disability.

In this context, Zimbabwe's 2019 modified Education Act mandates that government officials make sure that people with disabilities' rights are upheld in all of the nation's schools. This has resulted in schools enrolling students with disability regardless of whether they have the proper infrastructure and trained staff.

“Because schools are afraid to be sued or labelled they will accept your child knowing very well that s/he will be sitted as they cannot do anything with the child,” said Maxwell Ncube, a parent.

Ndlovu is working on enlarging the school and adding a boarding school that can house 600 students.

“There will be enough space for learning of physical skills and recreational,” she said. “It is an ideal environment for leaners with disabilities.”

Calvin Manika is a Christian and an African Award Winning International journalist from Zimbabwe.