Renewed call for special needs teachers

The staff of Bishop's West Primary School, Mukono has expressed concern over the limited number of qualified teachers for children with special needs at the school.

According to the director of studies and head of the special needs children department Monica Kisambila, the school is overwhelmed by the fast increasing number of children with physical disability and hearing impairments.

"My department has eighty special needs pupils. Forty of them have hearing impairments while the rest have different disabilities. Currently the school has five teachers to take care of these children who require extra attention. The few teachers we have are not good in all the subjects but we use them because we don't have options to choose from," Kisambila says.

"Both the special needs and ordinary pupils are taught following the same curriculum under the inclusive education arrangement. But with limited man power we find it hard to support learners with hearing impairments as we do not have enough interpreters," she added.

The head teacher, Lydia Nakachwa Sekalumba also noted that the school needs more trained teachers to attend to the children if they are to compete academically with the rest.

"Some of the children here require extra attention. The teacher to pupil ratio does not favour this kind of education program and some children have to wait until a skilled teacher is free to attend to them. This is affecting their academic progress," she said.

She said that the special needs children report late to school at the start of every academic term because majority of them lack basic needs to use while at school and their parents are not supportive.

Kisambila asserts that the children's delay to report to school prohibits them from completing the syllabus on time.

The challenges the special needs children face at the school include; lack of proper lighting in dormitories, lack of ramps for those with wheel chairs and inadequate modified latrines that the disabled children can access.

These concerns were voiced during a celebration held at the school over the weekend to honour and support learners with disabilities.

The function, dubbed ‘Christmas in October' was organized by Upendo Mikono (charitable hands) a charity organization founded by Mukuru Herbert a graduating student of Mass Communication at Uganda Christian University.

The organisation renders material, moral and financial support to the needy, particularly children with special needs children at the school.

Mukuru mobilized friends and classmates to provide food and basic materials to the children with special needs in the school as his way of giving back to some of the neediest people in society.

He says that he developed the idea of holding Christmas in October with an aim of changing the children's diet.

"They feed on beans and posho from Monday to Sunday during their entire stay at the school. Having such an event with a variety of foods puts a smile on their faces. This event is going to be held annually in October" he says.

Sharon Nakagga and Deo Bwete both of whom are pupils with hearing impairments in the school thanked Mukuru for his endless support to them and the entire school.

They also credited the idea of ‘Christmas in October' because they changed diet after a long time of feeding on posho and beans.