Children with disabilities need affirmative action
Apr 16, 2009
In March, I visited a number of schools in Hoima, Kapchorwa and Nebbi districts. The purpose was to assess how far children with physical disabilities can access schools and facilities in these schools.
By Hamad Lubwama
In March, I visited a number of schools in Hoima, Kapchorwa and Nebbi districts. The purpose was to assess how far children with physical disabilities can access schools and facilities in these schools.
My findings were unsatisfactory, but I am not going on the details in this article. What unconsciously impressed me though was that all the head teachers I talked to were aware and admitted putting into practice the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) policy of giving priority to Children with Disabilities (CWDs) by admitting them first. Quite impressive on paper, isn’t it?
Justine Mwesigye, the head teacher of St. Bernadette’s Model School, Hoima, said she admitted a child with a disability past the middle of the term. Her school is a model and all inclusive school with facilities to teach blind, deaf and children with physical disabilities.
The school has 24 children with hearing difficulties, six with visual impairments and only two with mild physical disabilities.
The school also admits ‘normal’ children. This statistics raised my concern about why there are very few children with physical disabilities in this school.
According to UN statistics, children with physical disabilities comprise 60% of the total number of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in any given population. So I expected the number of children with movement limitations to even more than double the number of their blind and deaf peers.
Many other head teachers said they admit which ever child is brought to them regardless of the kind of their disabilities, but they were all ignorant about the actual cause of poor enrolment of the biggest category of CWDs.
It is in Kapchorwa district where I found a convincing answer. “Lack of assistive devices to aid them (children with movement problems) to move leaves many at home while others go to school,†Freddy Chelimo, head teacher of Kapchorwa Demonstration School, a school for children with disabilities, told me. His school being a school for CWDs makes his answer very authentic since he normally interacts with these children and their parents.
Children and adults with physical disabilities need assistive devices like wheel chairs, tri-cycles, calipers, clutches, and artificial legs to move. These devices are very expensive to a parent who many times cannot even afford lunch of sh500 for his child at school or even a book for sh200.
The cost of a wheel chair made to suit Uganda’s physical environment at Katalemwa Cheshire Home (NGO that cares for CWDs) is sh500,000. The cheapest is at Mulago Orthopedic Workshop where the cost of wheelchairs range from sh150,000 to sh450,000).
The cheaper wheelchairs like those at Mulago are just imported and not ideal for our environment, not durable and not foldable. An artificial leg costs more than sh500,000 and more than a million shillings for an artificial hand.
The cost of a pair of calipers is about sh300,000. Disability is expensive, considering the fact that some of CWDs stay on medication for a life time to control their disabilities. Because parents of CWDs cannot afford the costs of walking aids, their children stay and get confined in homes. Those who can, crawl up to school — but because of difficulties associated with crawling, coupled with discrimination and stigmatisation, the children end up dropping out of schools. This could be one of the fertile causes of high drop out rates in UPE schools that is puzzling the Government.
CWDs need more affirmative action on addition to a policy of just giving them priority in admitting them to schools.
The Government and local authorities should give them assistive devices to aid them in movement, hearing and seeing. The deaf, for example, need hearing aids, the blind need white canes. These aids are so expensive that parents alone cannot afford, and without them, their children can hardly go to school.
CWDs face many hardships in studying, for example, getting late to class because of movement limitations, hearing and visual difficulties. These limitations of course affect their class performance.
Nontheless, many head teachers reported that often times some CWDs perform better that their able-bodied peers. But still, when it comes to enrolment in S.1, S.4 and tertiary institutions, CWDs could be given additional points to enable them make it to good or ‘first world’ schools.
Schools should also be equipped with special teaching facilities more especially braille for the blind and sign language interpreters for deaf students. Special needs teachers should also be available in every school.
So for children with disabilities to study and grow into productive citizens, they should be helped financially to acquire assistive devices, make schools accessible, equip schools with special teaching facilities for CWDs and post special needs teacher(s) to every school. Education goes beyond just admitting children to schools.
The writer is the information officer, Uganda National Action on Physical Disability
In March, I visited a number of schools in Hoima, Kapchorwa and Nebbi districts. The purpose was to assess how far children with physical disabilities can access schools and facilities in these schools.
My findings were unsatisfactory, but I am not going on the details in this article. What unconsciously impressed me though was that all the head teachers I talked to were aware and admitted putting into practice the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) policy of giving priority to Children with Disabilities (CWDs) by admitting them first. Quite impressive on paper, isn’t it?
Justine Mwesigye, the head teacher of St. Bernadette’s Model School, Hoima, said she admitted a child with a disability past the middle of the term. Her school is a model and all inclusive school with facilities to teach blind, deaf and children with physical disabilities.
The school has 24 children with hearing difficulties, six with visual impairments and only two with mild physical disabilities.
The school also admits ‘normal’ children. This statistics raised my concern about why there are very few children with physical disabilities in this school.
According to UN statistics, children with physical disabilities comprise 60% of the total number of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in any given population. So I expected the number of children with movement limitations to even more than double the number of their blind and deaf peers.
Many other head teachers said they admit which ever child is brought to them regardless of the kind of their disabilities, but they were all ignorant about the actual cause of poor enrolment of the biggest category of CWDs.
It is in Kapchorwa district where I found a convincing answer. “Lack of assistive devices to aid them (children with movement problems) to move leaves many at home while others go to school,†Freddy Chelimo, head teacher of Kapchorwa Demonstration School, a school for children with disabilities, told me. His school being a school for CWDs makes his answer very authentic since he normally interacts with these children and their parents.
Children and adults with physical disabilities need assistive devices like wheel chairs, tri-cycles, calipers, clutches, and artificial legs to move. These devices are very expensive to a parent who many times cannot even afford lunch of sh500 for his child at school or even a book for sh200.
The cost of a wheel chair made to suit Uganda’s physical environment at Katalemwa Cheshire Home (NGO that cares for CWDs) is sh500,000. The cheapest is at Mulago Orthopedic Workshop where the cost of wheelchairs range from sh150,000 to sh450,000).
The cheaper wheelchairs like those at Mulago are just imported and not ideal for our environment, not durable and not foldable. An artificial leg costs more than sh500,000 and more than a million shillings for an artificial hand.
The cost of a pair of calipers is about sh300,000. Disability is expensive, considering the fact that some of CWDs stay on medication for a life time to control their disabilities. Because parents of CWDs cannot afford the costs of walking aids, their children stay and get confined in homes. Those who can, crawl up to school — but because of difficulties associated with crawling, coupled with discrimination and stigmatisation, the children end up dropping out of schools. This could be one of the fertile causes of high drop out rates in UPE schools that is puzzling the Government.
CWDs need more affirmative action on addition to a policy of just giving them priority in admitting them to schools.
The Government and local authorities should give them assistive devices to aid them in movement, hearing and seeing. The deaf, for example, need hearing aids, the blind need white canes. These aids are so expensive that parents alone cannot afford, and without them, their children can hardly go to school.
CWDs face many hardships in studying, for example, getting late to class because of movement limitations, hearing and visual difficulties. These limitations of course affect their class performance.
Nontheless, many head teachers reported that often times some CWDs perform better that their able-bodied peers. But still, when it comes to enrolment in S.1, S.4 and tertiary institutions, CWDs could be given additional points to enable them make it to good or ‘first world’ schools.
Schools should also be equipped with special teaching facilities more especially braille for the blind and sign language interpreters for deaf students. Special needs teachers should also be available in every school.
So for children with disabilities to study and grow into productive citizens, they should be helped financially to acquire assistive devices, make schools accessible, equip schools with special teaching facilities for CWDs and post special needs teacher(s) to every school. Education goes beyond just admitting children to schools.
The writer is the information officer, Uganda National Action on Physical Disability