The deaf have been sidelined in education!

Nov 11, 2002

SIR— I am deaf and dumb. Please allow me to air our grievances through your paper. The Movement has been the best government in Uganda’s history as regards paying attention to people with disability.

SIR— I am deaf and dumb. Please allow me to air our grievances through your paper. The Movement has been the best government in Uganda’s history as regards paying attention to people with disability. Nevertheless, the deaf have got a raw deal. We therefore ask the following issues to be handled with urgency:
1. When will the promised secondary schools for the deaf be set up? Yet as of now many deaf people’s are sitting their pupils for PLE every year, but fail where to take them.
2. UPE, although meant to support the under privileged such as the deaf, it has not done any tangible effort as the funds are too little for deaf schools expense.
3. The deaf use sign language, which means a deaf instructor is a must for sign language. Why is it that the Ministry of Education does not pay salaries to sign language instructors in schools for the deaf?
Unless positive measures are taken to address these issues, we the deaf foresee a bleak future because we are being denied education on the ground of our disability. And education is the basis for a good future. All the government efforts to fight poverty will be meaningless since amidst the riches there will be an island of poverty with its evils like hatred, crime, insecurity, etc.
Can the Government let us know its plan for us the deaf?
How come that countries like Kenya can have over 50 schools for the deaf, fully supported by the government when Uganda, has none? Is it not an irony that students from Uganda should go to neighbouring countries for secondary or vocational education when we have the means to provide the same but deliberately refuse to do so?

Emmanuel Myeyera
Kampala

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