Anne Florence Nakabuye, Deputy Headteacher of Misanvu school for Children with Special Needs with the destroyed Braille Papers
Teachers of Musanvu Special Needs Education Unit in Bukomansimbi District are struggling to prepare and deliver content for their learners due to the absence of instructional materials.
The school which admits learners with visual and hearing impairments operates under Misanvu Demonstration Primary School in Butenga Sub-county, Bukomansimbi district, where learners are clustered based on their different special abilities.
However, all learners are now being merged in common classrooms, something that is frustrating the learning process of children with special needs.
Charity Ninsiima, a teacher in Primary Four at Misanvu Demonstration Primary school says the lack of instructional materials for the special needs education unit has compelled them to merge learners into common classrooms as a way of improvising all-inclusive teaching.
According to her, the braille and enlarged printed materials for the special needs education unit were destroyed by rain and termites during the long lockdown period. She says that the school has failed to replace them hence being left with no alternatives.
Ninsiima says the situation is difficult for them to deliver content to learners under such a learning environment. She adds that some of the teachers are not conversant with braille and sign language skills.
Mariam Nabbaale, another teacher says they have never imagined a situation that would force them to teach different categories of learners under the same class. She indicated that besides slowing down the general learning process.
Nabbaale explains that for instance, while learners with proper vision can ably copy their study content direct from the blackboards into their exercise books, their blind counterparts are not catered for, hence requiring that a teacher continuously read out for them as they write down which is time-consuming.
Even under this improvised teaching method, Nabbaale however indicates that many teachers are gambling to comprehend the braille texts of their learners hence affecting the whole teaching-learning process.
Florence Nakabuye, the head of Misanvu Special Needs Education Unit says confusion was dictated upon them by the prevailing shortage of instructional materials to support the proper recommended learning processes.
She says, when the schools reopened last month, they could stop their special needs learners from reporting back because of the apparent deficiencies in study material hence choosing to merge them, pending government to respond to their requests for materials.
Nakabuye has called upon well-wishers to support the school with any kind of support, as they wait for government supplies that have however delayed.
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