Fatima and Djoua: a relationship built on trust at school

Fostering openness and kindness at school

“When we talk about inclusion, we’re often told that the measures required are expensive. But we’ve learnt that, in reality, it costs no more than 1% of the total education budget. Yet it makes all the difference,” explains Solange Akpo, regional coordinator of the African Campaign Network for Education for All.

Fatima’s story perfectly illustrates this approach. Fatima, an eight-year-old girl, lives in Kara, Togo, with her four brothers and sisters, her father who is a retired teacher and her mother, a housewife. For a long time, little Fatima did not speak. Concerned, her parents took her to see a speech therapist, who advised them to enrol her in school.

‘It was through her interactions with other children and her friends, and the kindness with which her teachers treated her, that she became sociable and grew familiar with the language. Once she felt comfortable with her family and the other children, she began to understand words and sing nursery rhymes. She started speaking at the age of seven and today her speech is clear and articulate,” explains her older sister.

Fatima has learnt to speak, but she still finds it difficult to manage certain everyday activities on her own, such as getting dressed or feeding herself. Her biggest challenge now is to learn to read and write.

Fatima’s progress

Thanks to school and her family’s loving patience, Fatima is gradually catching up on her language development. The little girl loves going to class so much that she would even like to go on Saturdays.

Her teacher teaches a class of thirty-seven pupils, two of whom have disabilities. Having received no specific training in inclusive education, she relies on the invaluable help of Djoua Kalimoudou: “This year, thanks to the support of the itinerant teachers, I’ve noticed real improvements. Fatima is able to express herself and even count, with a little help,” she says.

“As an itinerant teacher, I support the class teachers during lessons. In class, I stand at the blackboard or next to the child who has difficulties and repeat everything the teacher says or writes. I have supported children who were marginalised and forgotten, and who have now completed lower and upper secondary school. I hope Fatima will follow the same path. Today, she knows how to hold a pen and is starting to write words – that’s real progress. With our support, she will learn to write; success is within our grasp,” says Djoua Kalimoudou.

A successful programme ready to be expanded

The programme of itinerant teachers, who work in primary and secondary schools, was launched by Humanity & Inclusion (HI) in 2010. In over fifteen years of operation, it has proven its worth and is now set to be rolled out across the whole country by the Togolese government, which plans to recruit nearly 800 new itinerant teachers.

As well as training the teachers, HI provides them with motorbikes and petrol to enable them to travel between schools, as well as the materials they need for their work – chalk and pen holders adapted to make them easier to hold, stencils for numbers and letters, raised-relief maps for geography, puzzles to develop fine motor skills, and so on.

Furthermore, HI supports the families of children with motor, sensory and intellectual disabilities. For the past two years, the organisation has been covering half of Fatima’s school fees and has provided her with a kit containing a schoolbag and school supplies.

For eight years, HI’s inclusive education project has brought together associations, civil society and education authorities to support children excluded from the school system in Senegal, Togo and Madagascar. It has enabled the introduction of school support workers, itinerant teachers and integrated ‘bridge’ classes. More than 10,000 people have benefited from this programme, nearly half of whom are girls. The project has fostered socialisation and independence among young people, helped those around them to better understand their disabilities, and also strengthened teachers’ capacities whilst adapting training structures and tools.