**5. Pedagogical approaches for learners with disabilities during COVID-19 lockdown in African countries**

COVID-19 severely affected education systems across the world [17], and the most affected were learners in pre-primary and primary level who have little experience of learning outside the classrooms, without support of their teachers, and could not be provided with adequate resources for learning at home (EdTech [18]). The situation was more difficult for learners with disabilities living in middleand low-income African countries who for a long time have struggled to access quality education [7, 17]. Studies indicate that during the period when schools were closed (as a result of the pandemic), over 30% of learners with disabilities in Africa were not able to read by themselves or be read to by their parents [19]. This could have been due to the mismatch between the learners' needs and the pedagogical approaches that were used to support them access education while at home. Learners with disabilities have unique learning styles such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic styles that require teachers to employ different teaching strategies in the learning process to achieve effective learning. Apart from Benin, Burundi, Cote d'voire, Congo, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, and Togo that lacked remote learning readiness, most of the other African countries responded to the school closure due to COVID-19 in innovative ways by offering distance remote learning [20]. The strategies that were used combined high tech and low-cost solutions that included digital teaching and learning approaches as well as the use of paper-based take-home learning materials [21]. These pedagogical approaches were either audiobased where radios were the most common mode of audio learning, or audio-visual based where the television was the most popular form of instruction. A study established that almost all the countries in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) used television programs and print materials to deliver education content while 65% of countries in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) and 81% of countries in Western and Central Africa (WCA) used the television to deliver content [17]. The Ubongo Kids, Edu entertainment, and Akili Kids were the most common televised learning programs. It is estimated that over 25 million children across 40 African countries accessed Ubongo TV program that is broadcast in nine African languages including sign language [22]. The assumption of remote learning was that the intervention would meet the educational needs of all children including those in early childhood and with disability, whose schooling had also been disrupted by the pandemic [21]. However, this notion was biased because the learning platforms could not meet the diverse learning styles of children with different abilities in the early years of education. For example, whereas the deaf could benefit from sign language lessons on TV, they could not gain much from the radio lessons. Children with specific learning difficulties as well as those with mental challenges needed some extra individualized support to be able to follow the remote mode lessons.

Learning management systems using digital devices were the other pedagogical approach that was used in some African countries during the COVID-19 school closure to enhance continuity of learning. This included zoom, Google meet as well as WhatsApp and Facebook platforms [7]. Countries such as Kenya and Rwanda partnered with their telecommunication companies to lower cost of access to ICT devices and Internet connectivity alongside developing and implementing digital literacy programs. All these efforts were made to enhance innovative teaching and learning to achieve the child-centered learning. It was assumed that remote learning would meet the educational needs of all children including those in early childhood and with disability; however, this was not the case [21], as revealed by survey in 52 African countries that showed that early childhood and primary level learners could not access or effectively utilize these methods (EdTech [18]). The situation was worse for learners in early years of education with various disabilities. They not only needed support to migrate the digitalized learning but also needed the approaches to be customized to their needs. However, this support was only available in few countries. In Morocco, for example, Internet was used to aid learning. In rural areas, lessons were recorded and broadcast on Moroccan Television. The government through the Ministry of Education took steps to minimize learning loss for children with disabilities particularly the deaf by producing the educational content in sign language. Further, language teachers were recruited and trained on multisensory structured teaching and learning and later were provided with tablets to enable them deliver the content to the children through digital platforms [19]. These approaches may have achieved a certain degree of teaching; however, lack of child-centered pedagogical practices such as free-choice and small group activities, supportive and reciprocal interaction between teachers and children meant that the online approaches could not achieve optimum effectiveness [23].

In Uganda, children with disabilities were to access the learning materials that were provided by the Ministry of Education on radio and television. Home schooling was encouraged by the government, and parents were expected to support their children study using their school text books. Schools also sent learning materials on the phones or in form of printed booklets [24] but as mentioned above, there were no special considerations for children with disabilities. Moreover, as reported by Mbazzi et al. [25], the majority of the parents of children with disabilities in Uganda do not know how best to manage their children's behavior and teach them at the same time.

In Malawi, the National COVID-19 preparedness and response plan was developed to ensure that teaching and learning continued during the lockdowns. Like in other countries, radio and televised lessons were used to reach out to learners at home and communities were mobilized to support home learning for children with disabilities. As revealed by a survey by Singal and colleagues, in addition to radio and TV lessons, learning materials were sent by the Ministry of Education in the form of ordinary print and could not be read by those who have visual impairment. Where Braille materials were provided, parents were unable to help their children read them since they lacked the skills to do so Singal et al. [24]. The survey showed that there were very few cases where parents of children with disabilities received home-based support on therapy, the absence of which must have further affected learning.

In Kenya, during the COVID-19 instigated school closures, distance learning solutions (DLS)/digital learning, also referred to as education technologies (EdTechs) [26], were adopted. The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) developed a teacher training manual through the collaborative efforts of various agencies in the education sector on remote learning. The aim was to engage learners in a variety of online environments using appropriate devices. The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) introduced programs on Edu channel TV and lessons from early childhood level. There was an increase in content on digital sites that was to be accessed by the learners. The television learning programs were supported with sign language interpreter as an adaptation to cater for learners who had hearing difficulties. This must have enriched the approach in terms of inclusivity;

#### *Perspective Chapter: Pedagogical Approaches and Access to Education among Early Childhood… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104921*

however, as mentioned earlier, delivery of content on television lacked the component of teacher-child interaction that is critical for ECE learners particularly those with special needs.

Moreover, a study indicated that the majority of teachers and parents were not sufficiently familiar with digital technologies that were used to deliver content to the learners at home [23]. Teachers noted that they lacked directions on how to support learners at home while parents indicated that they could not afford internet bundles required to download the learning materials that were sent online. It was reported in some cases that there was no sign language translator for those who had hearing impairments and that the lessons were too fast for those with learning impairments. Moreover, while learning gadgets such as braille and writing material were present at school, they were not provided at home, making home learning for children with visual impairments impossible. In the same way, deaf children were not able to communicate or get interpreter's support at home, making it hard for them to utilize the teaching that was provided on these platforms [27].

In Ghana, the prolonged school closures placed children with disabilities at a risk of dropping out. Like in other countries, distance learning was rolled out by the Ministry of Education using television, mobile devices, and Internet. Remote learning materials were also sent to learners through postal mail. However, using this mode of teaching and learning, children with disabilities were still at risk of being left out [28].

The Zambian government strengthened radio-based learning programs by distributing solar radios and training of teachers to engage with learners through distance learning and radio programs. In Sierra Leone, the government made it a priority to leverage the radio learning programs that had been started even before the pandemic. However, these too did not provide specific support for children with different needs.

Overall, several pedagogical approaches were adopted in the different countries to enable learning continuation during the pandemic. It is imperative to note that ECE learners with disabilities were often not catered for in many of these strategies. Where special facilities were provided to cater for ECE learners with disabilities, they lacked real-time teacher-learner interaction and the additional individualized support that is critical for effective learning for children with different needs. This is because remote learning is more of teacher-directed rather than an interactive learning process that requires face-to-face presence. Effective teaching and learning of children with disabilities in their early years of education require individualized instructional practices tailored to their different educational needs. However, this was not possible since face-to-face engagements were strongly discouraged during the pandemic, putting the learners with special needs at a greater disadvantage than their normal counterparts.
