The Learner Welfare Services, Schools Psychological Services and Special Needs Education Department is one of the support departments focussing on enabling all learners to access the educational facilities on offer to achieve their individual best through a range of support services.
Key Functions: Three Key Pillars
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Learner Welfare
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Ensuring that all schools comply with regulations and make practical arrangements for the provision of protective, safe, hygienic and learner-friendly environments for all;
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Coordinating the implementation modalities for the Home-Grown School Feeding programme;
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Monitoring and evaluating the impact of learner protection and safety policy instruments on the quality service delivery; and
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Ensuring effective coordination with other Ministries to ensure the effectiveness of social safety nets, school health programming and other intervention for the safety and protection of learners in school environments and other organised learning activities elsewhere.
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Psychological Services
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Provision of psycho-educational assessment and intervention services to schools, including programme monitoring and evaluation;
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Overall coordination of the remedial, speech, language and communication programme to ensure optimum learning outcomes for all;
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Spearheading the implementation of school-based screening for the early identification and programmatic support of learners with unmet psycho-educational support needs;
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Organising and coordinating the provision of guidance and counselling services to individual as well as groups of learners at every school as well as providing direct psychological services in response to referrals and crises that affect learners during their school careers;
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Capacitating and supporting all schools to provide psycho-social support to ensure the well-being of all their learners; and
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Ensuring that learners are aware of and actively participate in activities to safeguard their rights. Such activities include the prevention and early reporting of cases of bullying, all forms of child abuse, as well the provision of support services for affected learners.
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Special Needs Education
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Organising and coordinating the provision of quality special educational programmes for the benefit of learners with particular focus on those whose disabilities indicate additional support needs for optimal benefit from educational programmes;
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The ongoing capacity development to mainstream teachers to ensure readiness to accommodate the needs of learners with disabilities while strengthening their inclusive pedagogical skills and application in the regular classroom in support of the Primary, Secondary and Non-Formal Education Department of the Ministry;
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Ensuring the full capacity utilisation of the national Braille printing Press for the provision of quality of low vision and Braille support services to learners with visual impairment and their teachers;
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Provision of quality hearing assessments and decentralised outreach audiological services to all schools through the National Educational Audiology Laboratory;
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Active liaison with the Schools Inspectorate Division of the Ministry in ensuring quality teaching and learning in special schools, Resource Units, special classes and inclusive mainstream settings for the benefit of identified learners with special educational needs; and
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In collaboration with the Curriculum Development and Technical Services Department of the Ministry, contributing to the development of sign language and Braille teaching and learning resource materials
