By SANFROSSA MANYINDA
HE Special Education Teachers Union of Zambia (SPETUZ) is dismayed about a trend of missing results of students with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in almost every internal, external and GCE examination conducted nationwide every year.
SPETUZ president, Frankson Musukwa, complained that the missing results had in the past contributed to depression and hindered the SEND candidates to proceed to the next level, leading to them rewriting the subjects.
Mr Musukwa has since requested that the Examinations Council of Zambia (ECZ) should handle the results with extra care so as to avoid missing results.
Mr Musukwa was speaking following the commencement of the GCE and Grade 9 external examinations Monday.
“In this year’s examination, we as SPETUZ request that the examination be handled with extra care so as to avoid the inconveniences faced in the recent past. “We would also like to use this opportunity to encourage teachers in charge of examinations to follow all examination guidelines of children with disabilities as stipulated by the ECZ,” he said.
Mr Musukwa said the packaging of papers should be done in designated colours of blue for candidates with visual impairments, orange for candidates with hearing impairment and brown for candidates with physical/intellectual impairment.
He said that the awarding of extra time should also be considered as it would create an enabling environment for assessment of SEND candidates since time was another challenge they faced due to the pupils’ special needs.
Mr Musukwa encouraged teachers handling examinations to distance themselves from any form of misconduct and examination malpractice as they were retrogressive to the education system.
