Primary School for the Deaf - CLASSES
Embangweni Primary School for the Deaf has 12 distinct classes plus vocational education. Each class has one dedicated teacher, although the staff members are all able and willing to step in and substitute for someone who must be gone. Although each teacher tends to teach the same level every year, they are sometimes moved around if the headteacher feels it would be best. Every effort is made to keep class size to between 10 and 12 learners.
All teachers should have Special Needs (SN) Certification at the college level, although because of the nationwide lack of certified teachers they do occasionally take in a teacher who is experienced but does not have SN Certification. All teachers and the support staff are proficient in sign language. There is no permanent speech therapist on staff, but over the years several volunteer therapists have been at the school for periods of a few weeks to several years. Office space is provided for them so they can do individual speech therapy as well as working in the classrooms.
The school day begins after breakfast when students all have chores to do, much as they would if they lived at home. These include cleaning classrooms, cleaning the grounds, moving chairs and benches from classrooms to the chapel and caring for gardens and school animals. At 7:00 or 7:15 a.m., everyone gathers outside the chapel for assembly before moving into the building for a short worship service. Worship is often followed by announcements and sometimes the introduction of visitors. Students then disperse to classrooms, often carrying with them a bench or chair. Sometimes chapel is held outside because the chapel building is being rented to an outside group for meetings. This rental provides a bit of much-needed income to the school
Classes last until 10:00, when there is a tea break of half an hour. Students go to the hostels for tea and perhaps a snack; teachers gather in the staff room where tea is usually provided. At 10:30 classes resume. Preschool goes to lunch at 11:30; older students stay in class until 12 noon. Afternoon classes begin at 1:30 and go until 3:00 for preschool and lower primary and 3:30 for upper primary. Learners in classes 5 through 9 are expected to return after dinner for study hall, supervised in rotation by the teachers. On Fridays, all classes end at noon.
The school uses the standard Malawi curriculum and class 9 learners take the standard Malawi School Leaving Exam in May of each year. Classes include English, Chichewa (both are national languages), mathematics, Bible Knowledge, social studies, agriculture, science, history, and geography The School Leaving Exam is given in English and a pass in English is needed in order to be considered to have an overall pass. An overall pass is required in order to be considered for Secondary School. In May 2019, all the learners passed the English portion; 8 achieved an overall pass and were selected for Secondary School. In 2020, Class 9 achieved a 100% pass rate.
All classes are taught using Total Communication method, which means teachers use any method to convey information. They use sign, speak, draw on the board, act out concepts – whatever works! From Standard 4 onward English is increasingly used; by Standard 8 almost all teaching is done in English. Teaching is always supplemented by Sign Language. There is a severe lack of materials for learning. The Malawian government provides copy books but not textbooks or essentials such as pencils and pens. Classrooms are kept as clean as possible but there is always a need for on-going maintenance such as painting, chalkboard repair and repair of windows.
Some students who have difficulty with classroom studies are enrolled in the Vocational Education section. Here they are taught woodworking by Mr. M. Longwe and tailoring when a teacher is available. Mr. Longwe also teaches business practices and learners leave the program with a Certificate of Joinery, a set of hand tools provided by Marion Medical Mission and the ability to earn a living. Mr. Longwe teaches students to build very practical items: chairs, tables, benches, coffins and roof trusses. All students in the Primary Section have periods dedicated to Vocational Education where they learn the basics of the woodworking and tailoring crafts.
All students take Creative Arts (part of the standard Malawi curriculum) under the leadership of Mr. D. Chisiza. He teaches drawing and painting including the skills of perspective and design.
Both Mr. Longwe and Mr. Chisiza are themselves deaf and so bring to the students a depth of understanding not available to the rest of the teachers and support staff.
For many years, educators around the world have debated the benefits and problems of inclusive (integrated) education. This simply means placing children with a wide range of abilities in the same classroom, including those with special needs such as hearing loss, vision loss, physical disabilities and intellectual disabilities. Beginning with the 2018-2019 school year, an experimental project in inclusive education was begun at Embangweni as part of research by a university student.
Learners who were then in Preschool 3 at the Primary School for the Deaf were paired with students without hearing loss in Standard 1 at Loudon Primary School. They did all their education there while continuing to live at the School for the Deaf. A teacher of the deaf and a teacher of the non-deaf were both in the classroom, working as a team. The program continued in the 2019-2020 school year until schools were closed during term 3 due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak.
No results from this study were available as of this writing.
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