Africa-Press – Uganda. Children with disabilities face a host of challenges that impede their efforts to acquire education. This is highlighted by a story titled “Visually impaired pupils trek 3km to fetch water.”
The visually impaired pupils of Misanvu Demonstration Primary School in Bukomansimbi District are forced to endure the ordeal of walking three kilometres to fetch water because the tanks at the school, that was used to store rain water, are damaged. Pupils of the school told Daily Monitor that they often fall and sustain injuries as they navigate treacherous village paths in search of water. Teachers accompany them on these arduous tasks but this provides little relief. A visually impaired pupil of the school lost his life when he stumbled into a swarm of wild bees while on his way to fetch water. He died from bee stings. Other children with disabilities across the country face similar debilitating challenges in their quest for education.
Schools that cater for children with disabilities are few and they face chronic shortages of learning materials such as braille textbooks, braille machines, among others. There is also a shortage of teachers skilled in handling special needs learners. Many of these children with disabilities come from poor families that cannot afford to buy them equipment needed to enable their education.
They struggle to acquire essential equipment such as hearing aids, wheelchairs to ease their movements, among others. Their struggles are compounded by the fact that many school buildings are not easily accessible to learners with disabilities. Learners confined to wheelchairs and those who use crutches struggle to access school buildings that are not built with ramps. Furthermore, toilets and pit-latrines at most schools are hard for learners with disabilities to access because they lack ramps and rails. Most require squatting to use them, posing a challenge to those with disabilities.
Government and development partners should address plight of learners with disabilities expeditiously. These children, just like their able-bodied colleagues have a right to education. Reliable water supply system should be installed in schools having learners with disabilities. Where possible, piped water should be extended to these schools or boreholes drilled in the school compound. Schools should also be given funds to install tanks to harvest rain water. Government should increase funding to schools with special needs children to enable them purchase the required teaching materials.More teachers should also be trained.
The government should also consider subsidising prices of hearing aids, wheel chairs, among others. School buildings, including toilets and pit-latrines should be built with ramps, rails and other facilities that make them easily accessible to learners with disabilities. The plight of learners with disabilities should be addressed with the urgency it deserves because education is not a privilege or favour, but a birth right.
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