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Girl with multiple disabilities passes PLE
Mercy Kwikiriza, a girl with cerebral palsy, passed in Primary Leaving Examinations at her school, Kyomya Primary School in Jinja Northern City Division, after she scored Aggregate 20. PHOTO/TAUSI NAKATO
What you need to know:
- Mercy Kwikiriza suffers from multiple disabilities, including “weak muscles, floppy head, and inability to stand in one place for long”, which always affects her concentration in class.
A teenage girl suffering from multiple disabilities has beaten odds stacked against her and passed in last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), according to results that were released last Thursday.
Mercy Kwikiriza, 16, who suffers from cerebral palsy, a disorder that affects a person’s ability to move, maintain balance and posture, scored Aggregate 20 from Kyomya Primary School in Jinja Northern City Division.
Specifically, she scored credit five in Mathematics, credit six in English, credit five Science, and credit four in Social Studies.
Her Head Teacher, Ms Vicencia Musubika, said she was among the seven best-performing pupils out of 53 candidates.
“The school registered seven candidates in Second Grade and Kwikiriza was among them. We had no candidate in First Grade but her results have made us proud as an inclusive school,’’ Ms Musubika said at the weekend.
Ms Musubika described Kwikiriza as “a very bright pupil with a zeal for education despite being with multiple disabilities”.
According to Ms Musubika, Kwikiriza suffers from multiple disabilities, including “weak muscles, floppy head, and inability to stand in one place for long.”
“But she is bright, can express herself well in English, Luganda and Lusoga. She is also very honest,” Ms Musubika said, adding that Kwikiriza has suffered with this condition from Primary One.
She is the first born in a family of three children, born to Mr Christopher Tusubira and Ms Rachel Hadege, both residents of Bugembe Ward in Jinja Northern City Division.
She was also the Head Girl at Kyomya Primary School, which has a total population of 868 pupils, including 294 pupils with disabilities.
“I am very happy and couldn’t believe the results. My daughter surprised me by performing better than pupils who don’t have any disability,’’ her mother, Ms Hadege, said, adding that the daughter developed convulsions right from birth, which affected her mentally and physically.
“When I was pregnant, I failed to push at Kigandalo Health Centre IV, and was referred to Iganga Hospital where I had a vacuum-assisted delivery. The baby was already tired and cried after a week, having spent the same period on oxygen,” she said.
She added that Kwikiriza had several episodes of convulsions until she turned one year.
“She said a word at three (years) and also started speaking at that age. I felt traumatised. Raising her has been challenging because of stigma and financial constraints,’’ Ms Hadege said.
She called upon well-wishers to help and enroll her daughter in a secondary school to kick-start her dream of becoming a medical doctor.
“Those who can enroll her in inclusive schools, please do; I am financially incapacitated because children with cerebral palsy are expensive to take care of and their schools are few yet those without inclusive education don’t want to enroll her,’’ she added.
Statistics
Out of the 749,253 students who sat for 2023 PLE, Special Needs Education learners were 2,436 and, according to the Minister for Education, Ms Janet Museveni.
The minister added that their enrolment has increased not because they are many, but due to continued sensitisation of parents that such children, too, need education despite their disabilities.
