The education of deaf children in Zimbabwe : the changing roles of non-governmental organisations, the government and international organisations

Abstract

In this thesis I describe and analyse the development of education for deaf children in Zimbabwe, from its beginnings in the 1940s to 1994. I investigate in detail the changing policies and provision of non governmental organisations, the government and international organisations. The thesis is divided into three sections. The first section examines the literature relating to deaf education in Zimbabwe. the role of international organisations and the changes from charity to government provision. I introduce four propositions developed from the literature about, first the internationalisation of the debates about deaf education provision, second the limitation of charitable provision. third the struggles between interest groups and finally the influence of organisations of deaf people. I analyse the case study methodology used to investigate policies and practices. The second section describes the changes in the education for deaf children from the 1940s to 1994. I examine the early role of churches and charities and the gradual increase of government involvement. This section also plots the complex relationships between the government, non governmental and international organisations in the development of policy and practice. In the third and final section I return to the four original propositions and discuss the key findings relating to the changes in international policies and funding, the growing influence of deaf peoples organisations and reactive nature of government policies.