Bauleni Special Needs Project – upholding the right to education for children with disabilities in Zambia

Eleven-year-old Edith Namanda was diagnosed in primary school as both hearing and sight impaired, a condition known as deafblindness.

Since 2019, she has been enrolled at the Bauleni Special Needs Project and School (BSNP) in Lusaka, Zambia, the only school in the country to provide education and support to children who have deadblindness.

While at BSNP, Edith has developed  the ability to communicate using sign language and is learning how to write.

Bauleni is a poor, densely populated area of Lusaka where few other schools provide education or support options for the many disabled, orphaned and vulnerable children who live there. Opened in 1996, and run by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the BSNP is recognised as a Centre of Excellence for inclusive, special needs education in Zambia.

“We are welcoming to all children and our work makes a big difference in their lives,” says BSNP Director Sr. Yvonne Mwalula Mwila

“We are welcoming to all children and our work makes a big difference in their lives,” says Director Sr. Yvonne Mwalula Mwila of the Bauleni Special Needs project in Lusaka, Zambia.

Pictured: Eleven-year-old Edith Namanda, who is enrolled in the BSNP programme for children with deafblindness.

Photo: Moses Mtonga

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