Why special needs learners drop out of education cycle

The 2023 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) released on Thursday by the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) indicates that special needs learners still represent a minimal percentage of students who complete the secondary education cycle.

According to the results, of the 110,553 candidates who registered for the 2023 UACE examination from 2,102 centres, only 358 were candidates with special needs (SNE). Of these, 22 were blind, 88 had low vision, 21 were deaf, 19 had a severe physical disability, and 28 were dyslexic, while 177 had other forms of disability.

The pass rate among the SNE candidates was 92.7 percent compared to 99.1 percent of the other candidates. Three candidates (one male and two females) did not appear for the exam.

Although the results show that the total number of SNE candidates has increased from 222 candidates in 2022 to 358 learners in 2023, experts say the number of students with disability has consistently been much lower, limiting their access to university education.

Prof Mouhamad Mpezamihigo, the vice chancellor of Kampala International University, said SNE learners constitute one percent of about 7,000 learners that the university admits annually.

Prof Mpezamihimo said SNE students require meticulous care to access places of convenience, accommodation, library services, classrooms, and teachers at all levels of education to enable them to complete the education cycle. He noted that most schools and institutions of higher learning still struggle to make the learning environment favourable for learners with special needs.

“The buildings lack ramps, lifts, and pavements ideal for mobility of learners with special needs, especially those with wheelchairs,” he said.

Ms Hellen Grace Asamo, the Disability Affairs junior minister, who is a teacher by profession, said many SNE learners drop out along the way due to the hurdles that they encounter at school.

“[SNE students] are not attended to well because the teachers who understand them as well as teaching and learning materials are not there,” she said.

Minister Asamo consequently urged the Education ministry to “ensure special needs teachers are not transferred to schools where there are no learners with disabilities.”

According to her, the capacity of the human resource to pass on information to the learners is still wanting. She cited the Covid-19 era where the rest of the learners were able to study online, save those with special needs, some of whom needed physical interaction with their instructors and interpreters.

The Education ministry estimated there were about 2.8 million learners with disabilities by April 2022. However, only 50,000 of these learners were in school because there are few specialised schools.

The UN children’s body, Unicef, estimates, that only five percent of children with disabilities can access education through inclusive schools and 10 percent through special schools.

According to the Education ministry, there are about 24 special needs schools in the country, and only 126 ordinary schools that are inclusive to accommodate special needs learners.

More support needed

On the issue of government slots reserved for SNE learners at universities and tertiary institutions level, Minister Asamo suggested that they should be increased from the current 60 to at least 320 slots annually. She, nonetheless, welcomed the decision by the Cabinet to revise the unit cost for the education of special needs learners.

She said previous budgets had generalised all learners under Universal Primary Education, Universal Secondary Education, and tertiary institutions despite the unique needs that learners with special needs present.

Ms Esther Kyozira, the chief executive of Uganda National Union (Nudipu), said the supply of specialised equipment and materials such as hearing aids, magnifying glasses, braille machines, and braille paper should be improved to ease the process of learning.

Ms Mary-Gorreti Nakabugo, the executive director of Uwezo Uganda, an organisation that promotes equality education, recommended that care and support accorded to SNE learners during the national examinations period should be extended to them throughout the education cycle if they are to excel in final exams.

Ms Nakabugo noted that availing sign language interpreters, braille materials and machines, and large print text, is something that should be catered for early enough to create a conducive learning environment for such learners.

Mr Filbert Baguma, the general secretary of Uganda National Teachers Union (Unatu), observed that although the government is promoting an inclusive education for all, access is limited. Retention and quality are also negatively affected by constraints ranging from a lack of physical capacity, infrastructure, and learning materials to inadequate teacher capacity and negative attitudes as well as stigma.

Recommendations

In an interview with this newspaper last year, Ms Sarah Bugoosi Kibooli, the Commissioner for Special Needs and Inclusive Education at the Ministry of Education, recommended that more resources should be allocated to her department for building the capacity of teachers and also training of more special needs teachers across Uganda.

The World Bank’s latest Uganda Economic Update also recommends increasing government spending on education to improve enrolment and the quality of learning in Ugandan schools, raising the human capital necessary to sustain productivity and economic growth.

The report, says the government needs to raise its expenditure on education from the current 10 percent to match the sub-Saharan average of 16 percent to reap the full benefits of developing its human potential, which is essential for countries to increase productivity to grow their economies and improve the wellbeing of their citizens.

Uganda is a signatory to the international agreements/commitments that provide for learners with special needs.