Administrators of Mukono Municipality Special Needs Education (SNE) Primary School in Ggulu ward have suggested that sign language be added to languages on the school curriculum like Swahili, to counter the problem of lack of placement for their learners on completion of primary level.
They argue that children with hearing problems have nobody to communicate with outside the school which makes it impossible for them to continue with studies after primary education, and in the long run jeopardizes their hope for getting jobs.
This was contained in the address by the headmistress Sylvia Nakalema Mukisa at a function where top class learners graduated to primary level, which was also the music, dance and drama (MDD) exhibition.
The school gets partial funding from Hand In Hand Uganda (HIHU), Norwegian partners and a planned joint partnership with Mukono Municipality.
Nakalema suggested that modalities be put in place for all learners to study sign language right from primary to Senior Four, with those interested to take it further to higher levels, arguing that this will give deaf and dumb children a sense of belonging in communities.
“Today, their peers with all abilities look at these children as social misfits and some parents compound the problem by considering them as a blunder, whereupon the parents make an even bigger blunder of sidelining and neglecting them,” the headmistress lamented.
She sadly noted that parents in this category, besides grudgingly taking the children to school, drag their feet in paying fees and other requirements, which she said only complicates the work of developing these children with a sense that they are as useful as other children.
Nakalema was backed by the school director, Loyce Taaka Odwori who observed that SNE teachers need better remuneration to be able to give the children the necessary all-round training including eroding the trauma occasioned to the children by communities including their parents and other caregivers.
Driving her point home, Odwori said that some parents dump their boarding section children at the school as a way of getting rid of them, and either forget or neglect picking them at the end of the term, the fact notwithstanding that some have outstanding school fees balances.
She added that this forces the administration to grapple with the burden of identifying food sources as many service providers lose patience over delayed or non-payment and they withhold their services.
She further noted; “These children, owing to their various disabilities, need special dieting and unless we get facilitation beyond that from parents’ fees, we cannot afford to buy such food, and it is on this note that we ask for assistance from government and other well-wishers.”
HIHU Chairperson, Helge Midttun appealed to whoever has a hand in caring for these children to be more humane towards them by according them love, care and attention that they give to other children, saying they have all the potential other children have.
Helge reasoned that if society, including the biological parents reject them, nobody will take on this responsibility which he noted, will spell doom for these children’s future.
