Teacher shortage derails special needs education in Bushenyi

________________

More than 420 learners with disabilities in Bushenyi district are at risk of dropping out of school due to a severe shortage of trained special needs teachers, with only nine currently in active service.

According to Nicholas Natuha, the Bushenyi district education officer in charge of special needs, the situation is alarming.

“We are very few people trained in special needs education, about 11 or 12 in the whole district. When you subtract two headteachers and me, you are left with only nine teachers. This is not enough for learners with physical, visual, and hearing impairments,” he said during a recent capacity-building workshop.

He added that only three teachers are proficient in sign language, leaving deaf students largely underserved. Natuha called on the Ministry of Education and Sports to prioritise the recruitment and deployment of special needs teachers in government schools.

“The ministry must put more effort into training and recruiting special needs teachers so that all learners, despite their different abilities, are supported,” he said.

Despite the challenges, Natuha said learners with disabilities can excel.

Last year, all five special needs candidates in Bushenyi passed the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE). However, he warned that the lack of specialised support is driving high dropout rates.

“When learners’ needs are not met, they are neglected. Numbers drop drastically between Primary Six and Primary Seven,” he said.

Nelson Babimanya, a lecturer specialising in special needs education at Ibanda University, said the situation is worse at the secondary level.

“Many learners with disabilities complete Primary Seven but are not enrolled in secondary schools. Even those who join often drop out because teachers lack the skills to support them,” he explained.

He added that some schools fail to correctly register learners with the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), listing them as ordinary candidates and denying them support services such as transcribers and extra time.

For learners, the challenges are both academic and social.

Pofia Kabugho, a Senior Four student with a disability at Bishop Ogez High School, Bushenyi, said, “Some students laugh at me when I speak. Even some teachers teach very fast without considering learners like us.”

Kabugho noted limited government support. “I have never heard of government programmes supporting our academics. We only see leaders during campaigns,” she said.

Teachers say they struggle due to limited training. Daphine Ahimbisibwe, of Mary Mother Girls Secondary School, said general counselling skills are not enough to support learners with special needs.

“In some schools, learners spend the day idly because there are no teachers to support them. They go home without learning anything,” she said.

Ayiitu Gloria, a teacher at Bishop Ogez High School, said recent training initiatives are helping address the gap.

“We have learners with disabilities, but we did not know how to handle them because there was no training. We also lack the necessary equipment,” she said.

Stakeholders are now urging urgent government intervention to address the shortage of specialised teachers and ensure inclusive education for all learners.