05 May 2019

Batswana must make it a point that they are able to speak in any forms, including sign language.

Giving an overview of Spelling Bee competition for the deaf and blind at a media briefing on May 3, the founder and chairperson of Spelling Bee, Ms Tshepang Thibedi said said inclusiveness in education was important and should be adopted by other organisations.

She explained that inclusive education was  when all students, regardless of any challenges they might have, were placed in age-appropriate general education classes in their own neighborhood schools to receive high-quality instruction, interventions, and supports that enable them to meet success in the core curriculum.

She, therefore, said for that reason Spelling Bee Botswana had incorporated spelling competitions for students with hearing and sight challenges.

She pointed out that the school and classroom operated on the premise that students with disabilities were as fundamentally competent as students without disabilities, saying all students should be full participants who exercised full potential in their classrooms and local school community.

Ms Thibedi said successful inclusive education happened primarily through accepting, understanding, and attending to student differences and diversity, which could include the physical, cognitive, academic, social, and emotional aspects.

She encouraged Batswana not to wait to incorporate people living with disabilities including the deaf and the blind until they have a close relation in the situation, saying they should learn how to relate, live and cater for them.

Ms Thibedi, therefore, urged Batswana to learn sign language, saying they could start with basic greetings, saying in that way, the driving principle would be to make all feel welcomed, appropriately challenged, and supported in their efforts.

She further said with the knowledge on deaf culture and sign language, they would not feel deserted, especially that there were not enough sign language interpreters available to help with communication in different places in the country.

Giving a background of the organisation, the public relations officer Ms Fifi Mathambo said Spelling Bee Botswana was in collaboration with the Ministry of Education to help students improve in spelling, pronunciation and sentence construction to complement teacher’s efforts towards improving education.

For his part, a board member of Botswana Coalition in Education for All, Mr Richard Molefe acknowledged Spelling Bee’s efforts of engaging and inclusive education to students living with difficulties.

Mr Molefe stated that with Spelling Bee on board, students would be able to improve their spelling competence, and therefore would do well in academics.

He too was of the view that at times students living with difficulties were not supported, saying they should be a change of mindset for everyone to regard them accordingly.

Mr Molefe challenged the Botswana society to “stand up’ for other groups of children, adding that there was a need for deliberate programmes geared towards inclusiveness of displaced young people.

This year the Spelling Bee competition for the deaf and blind starts on May 24. 

The regional competition will be held on June 30-31, and the winners will represent Botswana in Uganda on October 23. ENDS