Challenges Facing Learners with Disabilities in South Sudan

By Ustaz John Garang Ayii Riak, Bor, South Sudan

Saturday, November 28, 2020 (PW) — There are a lot of learners with disabilities in South Sudan in which some are out of schools, others are just dropped out from schools and many are struggling with the daily challenges in order to remain in the schools. In Africa region, South Sudan is a leading nation in term of people (learners) with disabilities due to the long and occurrence civil wars. The nation has been experiencing a lot of civil wars and communal conflicts since 1955 due to political struggles and cattle raiding among the cattle keeping-communities.

Based on the above mentioned causes the nation became number in term of persons with disabilities because of two constant and long wars in the country and according to World Health Organization it estimated that 250,000 persons with disabilities live only in IDP camps in South Sudan and more than 1.7 people with disabilities live in the countrywide said Al Jazeera Newspapers, 2017.

But these people face a lot of issues in all dimensions of their lives either academically, socially, politically, economically, or physically. The aim of this article is to enlighten the public about the challenges facing people with disabilities and to mention some of the challenges facing people with disabilities these includethe following factors;

Long geographical distances; many learners always face long distances from homes to school every morning when they travel to and back homes after schools since most of the schools are day schools in the country and this increase the number of out of schools and dropout children in the country and this made some learners resort to stay at homes due to the long distances they travel from homes to schools.

Personal safety; Ongoing violence in some parts of the countryput disabled people at risk of physical or sexual abuse. Children and young people with disabilities, especially girls, feel much less safe. Their parents or guardians also believe it is safer to keep them at home or in the area where the family is basedrather than sending them to the schools for studies.

Poor road network; Roads and pathways may be pot-holed, stony, sandy, or slippery, lined by deep ditches in many parts of the country, making them impassable for people who use crutches, wheelchairs or other mobility aids, and unsafe for people who have vision difficulties.  Key routes may become rougher, partially blocked or too dangerous to use, due to landmines, landslides, rock falls, floods and so on. Learners with disabilities are suffering rough and dangerous roads which always affect their daily movement from homes to schools and back homes in the evening and all these discouraged them and it resulted into rampant and high dropout from schools in the nation.

Lack of mobility facilities; learners with disabilities lack supporting mobility services such as wheel-chairs and crushes and many others which can support them during their movement from homes to schools are lacking and this make many learners with disabilities not to have access to education in the country.

Inadequate medical services; there are inadequate medication services to treat many diseases and sickness for learners with disabilities and this lead into rise the number of people with disabilities due to the lack of proper treatment of diseases and sickness in the country.

Lack of assertive devices; there are many different types of disability that need different types of impairments, visual retarded needs to be given designed and tested eyeglasses and programmed computers such as brailles and Perkin computers that have computerized alphabetical systems. Also dumbed and deaf need earring devices and they should also be taught in sign-languages while limb deformed need to be given artificial limbs such as plastics legs and arms. Mental retarded need psychosocial supports (PSS) and counselling in order their behaviours and emotional aspect.

Lack of legal and policy protection; most of the learners with disabilities are being discriminated, segregated, bullied or mocked in the schools by their fellow learners and teachers as well. Some are nick named as aburkereng (lame), amindur (blinded) athoroc (deaf) etc. Furthermore, there is a lot of physical exploitation and sexual violence and abuses against learners with disabilities. All these needs both the government and the schools to come up with the legal and policies to protect them. School rules and regulations should be tightened and people who use abusive language against such people must be punished so that the mocking and bullying should be stopped in the schools and it is the duty of schools and law makers to discourage these barbaric acts against vulnerable group. 

Public negative attitude; this dishearten parents from sending children with disabilities to schools and many parents refuses to send their children to schools simply they think that they will be mocked and be looked as source of curse. Most of the disabled people are jobless according to the National Disability Assessment of 2012, revealed that people with disabilities were unemployment, and the 2008 census similarly reported lower levels of economic activity among people with disabilities, simply, most of the employers either in the public or private sector lack knowledge about the right of minorities and vulnerable groups.

Politically, people with learners suffer exclusion and discrimination, with their voice rarely being heard in political decision making. Alongside widespread marginalization, people with disabilities in the nation, disabled person has to struggle with both verbal and physical violence in addition, according to the National Disability Assessment, 82%of people with disabilities experience daily occurrence of tension and worry, while 12% experience physical violence, and also women with disabilities is most vulnerable, facing complex psychological, physical and sexual violence. 

Lack of gendered sensitive and inclusive curriculum; the current primary and secondary curriculums is exclusive instead of being inclusive and gendered sensitive and we should have all sexes and minors’ interests in the curriculum to make it inclusive rather than being exclusive.

Lack of trained teachers in special need and inclusive pedagogy; learners are facing shortage of qualified and trained teachers in the special needs and inclusive pedagogy because the few teachers we have in the country are lacking knowledge and skills in teaching inclusive education this make most of the disabled learners to dropout from schools and resort to stay at homes.

Poor designed classrooms and toilets; The few learners who tried to enrol in the schools are also facing poor classrooms and toilets because most of the premises are designed in a manner that does not allow the movement of learners with disabilities because of uneven surfaces simply most of the classes and toilets and latrines are steep up and they supposed to have flatted and smooth floor surfaces so that to allow the movement of the disabled learners and schools are supposed to have separated latrines and toilets designed for the learners with disabilities.

Unsuitable furniture; Learners with disabilities are challenged by the unsuitable furniture such as chairs, desks and benches plus the row and line in the classrooms which they could sit comfortably in the classrooms which against the policy of Child Friendly Schools (CFS) which aimed for all children ’s safety, interest and happiness. 

Lack of mentors; In all sectors, people with disabilities are ignored and neglected in all aspect of lives either being politically, socially or economically and this make disabled children loss hope for their future when they don’t see people of their nature heading some of public institutions. Therefore, lack of mentors and role models lead most of the disabled children to dropout from the children.

Lack of Parental Care; Most of the parents are not caring for their disabled children, but they simply regard them as useless children and have nothing good they can do either for themselves or to anyone else in the society, but they supposed to be given parent care and supports for them to get courage and be self-reliant.

Lack of training centers and schools; there are no centers and schools designated for training teachers and learners with special need and inclusive education in the country and this one of the main challenges facing disabled persons in the nation and government should establish more centers and schools to train teachers and learners with disabilities.

Lack of funds; There is no funds for financing the special need and inclusive education in the nation this is one of the key challenges facing the implementation of special need and inclusive education in the country and I am suggesting government and the international NGOs dealing in the education sector should write more projects and lobby for more funds for this field.

In conclusion, I am appealing to both the government and her interventional education partners to prioritize the Special and Inclusive Education to help disabled persons, because I most cry when I see how disabled persons suffer from being regarded as a less human beings by abled bodies in the country, yet some of them had contributed positively toward achieving independence of this country because some got disabilities during freedom struggle.

Our people should not think that disability is a crime or symbol of the curse, but it is a call from God as part of His creation. Therefore, I want these disadvantaged human beings to be respected in all aspect of life and people should also know that, “Being disabled does not mean un-abled, just different abled as it is said by Mr. Noel Helm.

But if they are taught, they can do something for their own livesand as well as for the nation. I am interested that the national government and international communities should double and come up with programs to teach life skills to learners with disabilities by developing their capacities so that they should engage in a positive behavior that will nurture their own well-being that can give them courage and confidence for their life journey.

Disability is the biggest problem that needs to be addressed by qualified people with a knowledge of Special and Inclusive Education” as the essential way forwards to improve the lives of vulnerable group such as disabled and females as per MDG of education for all. I quote Dr. Veena Kumari’s quote thatsays, “Enable the Disabled, that mean disability should be translated into ability; capability, an attractive opportunity and indeed a reality.”

This will advance their social positive change. Therefore, it is my feeling that South Sudan cannot progress without special and inclusive education system because this is a key principle to development and transformation of people with disabilities. South Sudanese government and her international education partners should try their best to make sure the participation of female and disabled learners in education in the country is equivalent to the males and abled bodied persons, but still the enrollment rate in the school for female and disabled students are still low compare to the rests.

The government of South Sudan should enact a National Policy on the Equalization of opportunity for people with disabilities and this policy should be fully implemented. The policy should demand for recognitionand respect of individuals with disabilities so that they should be integrated into all government program aspects of equal participation of such persons in developmental activities in order to increase equal access to education for all learners regardless of their physical dimensions.

Therefore, I call upon both the national government and international education partners to train many teachers on a special need and inclusive education so that the disabled person should be taught in order they should stand on their own feet. In addition, I appeal to both the government and the international to lobby for more funding for establish training centers and train teachers for the learners with disabilities in order to increase enrollment, access and retention of learners with disabilities so that they should improve their lives so that they should be self-reliant and have bright future like other human beings as it is said that “Disability is not inability.”

The author, Ustaz John Garang Ayii Riak, is an Educationist with a Master’s Degree in Comparative Education from Zhejiang Normal University China and Bachelor’s Degree in Education from Bugema University, Uganda and many other certificates in education. He lives in Juba, South Sudan, and can be reached via his email address: johngayii2014@gmail.com

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