Govt to give more support to PWDs
Dec 02, 2018
The special needs education, under the Ministry of Education and Sports addresses issues of children with learning difficulties, he says.
Four out of every 25 persons in Uganda have disabilities, according to the Uganda Population and Housing Census Report of 2002. Meanwhile, according to the 2014 Uganda Population and Housing Census, Uganda has a disability prevalence rate of 13.6% among the population aged fi ve and above. The census estimates that the highest forms of disability are: diffi culty in seeing (6.5% of the population), diffi culty in remembering (5.4%), diffi culty in walking (4.5%) and diffi culty in hearing (3.1%).
The 2002 report notes that the prevalence rate in 2002 was higher than the 11% revealed in the 1991 census. The prevalence of disability increased with age from 2% among children aged less than 18 years to as high as 18% among the elderly. According to the department of persons with disabilities in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, disability is a permanent and substantial functional limitation of daily life activities caused by physical, mental or sensory impairment and environmental barriers resulting in limited participation.
Sam Masaba Wekesa, the commissioner for disability and elderly persons, says the National Development Plan II underscores the importance of ensuring that all government building and facilities cater for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). The International Day of Persons with Disabilities will be held today in Nakaseke district. The theme this year focuses on empowering PWDs and ensuring inclusiveness and equality.
Wekesa says the Government provides free education to all children in primary schools, without exception. There are 150,559 children with disabilities in Universal Primary Education schools benefi ting from this programme, he says. Out of these 82,537 are male and 68,022 are female. He adds that about 4,500 PWDs have been trained in vocational skills in the vocational rehabilitation institutions since 1967.
The special needs education, under the Ministry of Education and Sports addresses issues of children with learning difficulties, he says. The programmes under Kyambogo University play a key role in training teachers and other professionals in special needs education and rehabilitation, Wekesa says. Furthermore, he says the Government has put in place a rehabilitation and resettlement scheme that includes vocational rehabilitation services, sheltered workshops that focus on employable skills training and orthopedic workshops for provision of assistive devices to PWDs.
However, Wekesa notes that despite these programmes, scarcity of appropriate educational, scholastic and instructional materials, inadequate training of staff handling concerns of PWDs, outdated and limited skills in vocational rehabilitation centres, inaccessible physical structures at schools, high costs of assistive devices and assistive services such as guides, helpers as well as interpreters are major factors which hinder PWDs from attaining an education and skills.
Vocational training
"As a ministry, we have set up vocational training centres for PWDs to ensure that they gain some skills and start businesses for themselves. We have fi ve centres at the moment and these are spread out in various parts of the country," Wekesa explains. Vocational centres such as Rweza, Ruti and Mpumudde can each cater for over 250 PWDs. "We are giving them skills in welding and metal work, cookery, tailoring, building and construction among others. Training in each course takes about 12 months," Wekesa adds.