Persons with disabilities plead for access to education

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Persons with disabilities plead for access to education
Persons with disabilities plead for access to education

Alex Bullen

Africa-Press – South-Sudan. People with Disabilities (PWD) in Warap State are appealing to the government and the education partners to provide special-needs facilities for children with disabilities.

The group said putting more effort into education facilities across the country would enable people with diverse impairments—especially people with speech and hearing challenges—to have access to education.

William Nhial Deng, a person with a visual impairment from Tonj South County, said the majority of PWDs are still disadvantaged because of a lack of access to education.

“PWDs are really in need of education. “We are critically vulnerable and many of us still have to live on insufficient income, inaccessible housing and receive little or inadequate support to live independent lives just because we are not educated,” Deng said.

Deng is among the 220 PWDs who recently completed a course in “English Braille and Mobility and Orientation” in Tonj South.

The training was funded by International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

He said the PWDs need more support, adding that it is time for the leaders and education partners to provide inclusive education for the citizens.

“We truly learned a lot in this one-month education course and we ask IOM that we need similar training to be conducted monthly, if not weekly, and should be extended to other parts of the areas for PWDs to have access to education,” he said.

Deng urged organizations representing disabled people to band together to make a more cohesive case for their rights before the government, parliament, corporations, and the media.

“And the governor promised to provide land to build a school for us. We demand the IOM to increase and continue education because there are a lot of people in need of education. And we heard that we will give financial incentives when we finish.”

Daniel Mabior, another PWD, said the IOM has done a tremendous job but urged the government to step up and provide more support to them.

“We hope they will preserve this work and to move forward and stand by us, also we demand the IOM and the government to bring the rest of the weak citizens to this school.”

Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Aleu Ayieny Aleu, the governor of Warrap State, vowed to support the establishment of a facility for persons with disabilities in Tonj town during the graduation ceremony on Thursday.

“I suggested to you that the IOM expand a comparable initiative to the six counties in Warrap State. The establishment of a training facility for those with special needs would have the backing of my government,” Aleu reaffirmed.

The IOM representative, who is also the project manager, Gloria Meliku, said the program is aimed at training people with visual and hearing impairments as well as mobility and orientation issues to learn how to read and write.

According to Meliku, they trained 220 people with disabilities, and among them, 160 males and 60 females.

The trainees were mainly from Aweil South, in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State. Those trained in “English Braille” were 10 females and 30 males, while those in sign language were 17 females and 23 males.

In mobility and orientation, there were 13 females and 27 males, for a total of 40 females and 80 males.

In Tonj South, Warrap State, those who attended the “English Braille” included 1 female and 19 males, while for sign language there were 9 females and 31 males, and for “mobility and orientation” there were 16 females and 24 males, making the total of 26 females and 76 males.

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