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| Mr. George Mainja Kasese DEO talking to Mr. Eric Kamwenge DEO who had led a team to learn from Kasese 9th April, 2013 |
As a plan of Action from the district
consultative for vulnerable groups and the district Education stakeholders
meeting 7 Kamwenge district leaders participated in a two days learning visit
in Kasese district on inclusive Special Needs Education from 9th -10th
, April, 2013. The team from Kamwenge
included the Hon. Gerald Twebaze District speaker, Mr. Eric Tumwiringire the District
Education Officer, Inspector of schools (SNE), District councilor for PWD, a teacher
from St. Anthony P/S that is catering for the vulnerable and a youth counselor
representing the secretary for education.
The Mr.George
Mainja Kasese District Education
Officer, started by giving the history of special needs education that started
at Rukoki Model P/s which was later extended to Kinyamaseke P/S. Without any secondary education to cater for
special needs Education, most children would drop out after P.7 which made the
district to earmark Saad Memorial SS in 2012
that currently secures funding from the ministry to the tune 2.500.000 on the
quarterly basis and NUDIPU which facilitated them with a latrine 10 million
shillings for ramps ad latrine to cater for the PWD. Organizations like BTC
have greatly contributed to realization of special needs education by
constructing a dormitory at Kinyamaseke Primary School as well as facilitating
trainings for teachers during Holidays.
In his
key note address the district Education Officer, Kasese emphasized that for
special needs education to be realized the Local government needs to have
interest in the intervention which will attract other stakeholders to give a
helping hand therefore Kasese district
initiated special needs education and the development patterns followed as it
was a priority for the district. The district has also involved PWDs in
district functions so that they are exposed to people for support.
How
will the exchange visit address the challenges
of Kamwenge District in implementing inclusive education where the only school that had
started offering special needs educated was diverted from Kamwenge P/s and
taken up as a church project which is now private. Even when development partners
like UNICEF and FINLAND plan to provide beds and build a dormitory they
have no teachers to teach sign language and brail. The children with special
needs education drop out in P.4 because they do not see a future after P7. The
DEO advised the team from Kamwenge that if they are to succeed in implementing
special needs education they need to establish a district management team as in
the case of Kasese district which is composed of 13 members and Chaired by the
CAO to guide implementation. Advocacy by children with special needs themselves
and a case in point was when the children with special needs after P.7 went to
the District Chairperson and the Chief Administrative
to ask about their future after P.7. Also most important, the team was advised
to consider special needs education in the District Development plans and
Budget. On the part of teachers the district should register and deploy
teachers according to special needs in the schools as well as encourage more teachers
training in SNE. The SMC and PTA could also be a target as Kasese district is
also trying to influence the school management committees and PTA to consider
having Special Needs Education representative. What about the consideration of
special allowances for SNE teachers as for science teachers this was food for
thought for the team. The other key
consideration is how much of the local revenue goes to Special Needs Education
Kasese district provides at least 20% of its local revenue. Most important to
note for the team was that Special Needs Education is a multi-sectoral approach
where all departments have to be involved.
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| The Kamwenge Team and KALI team bidding farewell at KALI Office, |
The
team was taken to four schools to learn practical experience to Rukoki Model Primary School, Saad Memorial SS, Kiyamaseke Primary School and Mpondwe Primary School the schools implementing Inclusive special
needs education. Together with the visiting team, the DEO representative, the
staff of KALI, Mr. Katemba Douglas a
retired Kasese DEO and the media headed to
Rukoki primary school we were briefed about by the Headmistress of the school. The
school has a total enrollment of 530 pupils of which 116 are children with
special needs and 6 special needs Education teachers. She noted that she has
registered process in special needs education since the unit opened as majority
of the children was able to complete primary education; others joined Secondary schools while three of them are integrated into formal
employment. Three children with special needs education were enrolled on
tailoring with in the school after completing P.7. Nine Children with special needs education with
facilitated with 9 tailoring machines, and 5 braille machines, power, a second
hand computer, a gate but one cannot all is smooth for Rukoki P/s as they have
no accommodation for some children since the dormitory is small, lack of
materials to use for vocational training and parents contribution of 100,000
per pupil by parents and guardians has remained a challenge.
At saad memorial SS the school started
integrating special needs education in 2012 with one girl with visual
impairment and a boy with hearing impairment and with sensitization of students
in appreciating and working with children with special needs the number increased
to 21 students with special needs education.
No in their doubted their capacity as it was noted that all the 4
students who sat for Uganda Advanced Certificate in Education, 3 of them passed
in grade 3 while one passed in grade 4. The schools authorities have received
capacity building from civil society like Handicap, KADIPPU/ NUDIPPu that has
trained staff in sign language and continuous support from the government. The
school has introduced sign language for all pupils in S.1 for communication to
the dumb and deaf. The also has a board
that seats every quarter to assess the progress of special needs education. The head teacher of the school advised the
team from Kamwenge that special needs education needs the intervention of all
the stakeholders as well as train their own manpower in special needs education.
Other schools visited were Kinyamaseke P/s and Mpondwe primary school which had
136 and 87 pupils with DNE respectively.
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| Talking class room that works for all pupils, what about those with visual impairment? |
The
leaders left Kasese district with a commitment that they will establish SNE
management committee by end June 2013, establish a district special Needs
education unit as well as identify and assess the situation of special needs
education as well as share the learning visit report with other departments of
the district. Thanks for the generous support from HIVOS.
By
Sheila
Kengingo
RWECO
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