The Use of Mobile Phones to Enhance Inclusive and Equitable Education for All. A Case of Disabled Youths in Bamenda, Cameroon

Abstract

PCF10 Sub-theme: Promoting Equity and Inclusion // This paper investigates how physically disabled youths in the town of Bamenda, the capital city of the North West Region of Cameroon are able to fit in the Sustainable Development Goal 4 especially with technological advancement. The Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The emergence of technology has been an asset to learning in the 21st Century. This research seeks to understand how the physically disabled youths benefit in this wave of technology as concerns their education enhancement. We set off with the following questions. How can phones be used by disabled youths such as the blind and deaf? How can phones help the education of physical disabled youths? Proposed answers to the above stated questions were; Mobile phones are wired with apps and settings which help people living with disability. Through mobile phones, physically disabled youths can access learning materials on the internet and through voice notes. The main theoretical resource for this study is Technological Mediation Theory by Verbeek. Purposeful samplings of 30 physically disabled youths in the city of Bamenda were our focus. Interviews and observation were the means through which data was obtained. Results have it that, among the disabled, the deaf are very active of phones and social media with video aids and the possibility of writing. While the blind have audio setting on their phones, which help them get most information they want. Their trainers as well learn quite well on how to accommodate them and carry them along their respective training. // fPaper ID 5499