The level of education attained by students is dependent on their ability to understand learnt concepts and demonstrate their acquired knowledge and skills in problem solving as well as their performance academically. This study sought to investigate the perceptions of lecturers on academic performance of student teachers with hearing impairments. A descriptive case study was used as research design. The study sample included three (3) Lecturers and four (4) student teachers with hearing impairments making the total of seven (7) participants who were purposively sampled. Data was generated using interviews and analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis techniques based on emerging themes from the study. The study revealed that lecturers perceived student teachers with hearing impairments as average and below-average performers academically. The study further revealed that student teachers with hearing impairments had mixed feelings towards their academic performance and perceived their academic performance as being influenced by their inability to understand concepts as well as lecturers’ inability to handle them appropriately. The study recommended the need by educators of students with hearing impairments to have positive perception towards students in order to instill self-positive regard in students. The study further recommended need for lecturers to adapt tests and examinations items in order to accommodate deaf student teachers.

Assessment is the basis for understanding students’ abilities to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and understanding of learned concepts. This study sought to analyse assessment items of student teachers with hearing impairments at Kitwe Colleges of Education in Zambia and a qualitative case study was used as the research design.  The study comprised seven (7) participants of which three (3) were Lecturers and four (4) were student teachers with hearing impairments, who were purposively sampled. The study revealed that students with hearing impairments were able to answer assignments accordingly despite exhibiting referencing and grammatical errors, and experienced more challenges answering tests. The findings also indicated that lecturers viewed the performance of student teachers with hearing impairments in assignments as being influenced by their hearing peers and that students with hearing impairments wrote their assignments and tests using sign language that was not making sense to lecturers. The study concluded that student teachers with hearing impairments were able to perform better in assignments and that they experienced more challenges answering test questions. The study recommended the need for assessment items for students with hearing impairments to be adapted to make them appropriate for the students and that educators for students with hearing impairments should take a keen interest in acquiring knowledge of Zambia Sign Language grammatical structure to enable them to assess and mark assessment items of students with hearing impairments without difficulties.

Children with Deafblindness in Zambian communities face communication challenges.  Communication forms the basis for human interaction, exchanging ideas and feelings, and facilitating inclusiveness in society.  This study, anchored on the theory of dialogism as the theoretical framework, sought to assess the natural communication abilities of children with congenital Deafblindness and further explore measures taken by caregivers/parents to enhance the communication abilities of the children.  A qualitative case study was used as the research design. Snowball sampling technique was used to sample three (3) children with congenital Deafblindness aged three (3), eleven (11), and twelve (12) and three (3) parents and one (1) relative who participated in the study, making the total number of (7) seven participants. The participants were from Lusaka, Copperbelt, and Northwestern provinces of Zambia. The findings were that children with congenital Deafblindness could use natural signs to communicate their feelings of happiness, frustration, or discomfort, detect sounds, express mistreatment, and use imitations, tapping, and pointing signs. The study concluded that although children with congenital Deafblindness can communicate, parents 1 and 2 naturally and relative o In contrast, parent 3 was able to communicate with her child with congenital Deafblindness through the use of Hand overhand communication, the object of reference, body contact and hand tactile techniques. The study recommended the need to teach communication techniques to parents and caregivers of children with Deafblindness in order to improve the communication skills of children with Deafblindness.

The use of technology as an alternative to traditional teaching during pandemics such as COVID-19 is attracting attention globally. This study sought to explore the effectiveness of teaching student teachers using E-Learning during COVID-19. Hearing students were learning together with students with hearing impairments in an inclusive environment before the closure of an institution. A mixed approach involving concurrent design was used and 193 student teachers who were purposively sampled from Kitwe College of Education in Zambia participated in the study, of which 4 of the participants were hearing impaired. The findings were that 53.9% of the participants had access to e-learning services, whereas 48.1 % had no. The study also revealed that 86% of the participants disagreed to having benefited from e-learning and cited lack of technological devices, poor network and expenses to purchase internet bundles as some of the barriers to e-learning. The study concluded that despite 53.9% of the participants having access to e-learning, 86% of the participants did not benefit from the use e-learning, due to lack of access to internet and expenses to purchase internet bundles, and that students with hearing impairments were disadvantaged due to lack of text and sign language interpretation during e-learning lectures. The study recommended the need to provide free internet bundles to students if e-learning is to be effective, educators record lessons and enable students to access, as well as need to consider students with hearing impairments during inclusive e-learning by providing sign language interpretation and texts.

The introduction of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in the Zambian school curriculum has raised debate among stakeholders. Despite the Ministry of Education using Comprehensive Sexuality Education as a way of reducing various challenges faced by learners with regards to their sexuality education, the effectiveness and mode of implementing CSE is a source of concern.  This study sought to explore the perceptions of learners and teachers on the role of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in reducing child sexual abuse and teenage pregnancy. The total number of 60 participants who included 40 secondary school learners and 20 secondary school teachers from two secondary schools in Kitwe District on the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. The findings revealed that 50% of the learners were of the view the CSE had failed its goal of reducing child sexual abuse. The study further indicated that 60% of the teachers and 50% of the learners agreed that CSE helped to prevent early sex and teenage pregnancies in learners. The study concluded that both teachers and learners were of the views that CSE increased awareness on child sexual abuse to learners. The study recommended the need by the Ministry of Education to promote guidance and counselling services in schools with emphasis on peer counselling and peer-led life skills education to address issues of child sexual abuse and teenage pregnancy as well as the need by teachers to implement CSE by integrating its content in currier subjects and not teaching it as standalone subject.