Education And Employment Of The Blind In Zimbabwe, 1981-1987

Abstract

The National Disability Survey of Zimbabwe which was conducted by the Department of Social Welfare in conjunction with UNICEF from 19th October to 23rd December, 1981 revealed inter alia that: (a) Zimbabwe has a total of 276 300 people with severe disabilities of various types; (Government Printer, 1982, p.30) (b) Of those disabled people of or above school-going age,, 52% had never attended school; 17% had been to school for less than two years; 28% had been to school for up to seven years and only a minute fraction of 1% had progressed to or beyond secondary school; (Government Printer 1982 p. 32) (c) the highest single type of disability encountered was that of eye sight with a minimum of 70 000 visually-impaired people of whom 22 700 are totally blind (Government Printer, 1982, p. 30.) and 10 000 are of school-going age (Government Printer, 1982, p. 42).