Learners with Disabilities Have Particular Needs

School Management Sub-Committee on Inclusive Education Helps to Support Learners with Disabilities  

Bandar Girls’ Primary School is a government school located in Malakal Town, Upper Nile State. The school was established in 1987 but closed from 2013 to 2015 due to the crisis of 2013. Like many schools in Upper Nile State, the school is struggling to provide quality education due to untrained and poorly motivated teachers as well as lack of a conducive learning environment. There is also little parental support for education, as parents and guardians are often not willing and/or able to provide financial support to schools or for their children’s education.   

  “Our school is really struggling. There is no way we can get money to run the school effectively since we do not charge the learners school fees. Parents are not willing to pay as many lost their livelihoods in the 2013 crisis. Some staff here earn as low as 10,000 SSP (about $10 USD) per month, and this money does not come regularly. It is a big challenge for us. We are here out of goodwill, not because of what we earn,” says Simon Gor Gatluak the Chairperson of the school’s School Management Sub-Committee for Inclusive Education, who is also a teacher in the school.  

 In Upper Nile State, learners with disabilities face significant stigma. Most parents consider persons with disabilities to be unable to make a meaningful contribution to development in the family and society. As a result, persons with disabilities are more likely to experience discrimination, including being denied access to essential services such as health and education. Not having equal opportunities to employment results in poor socioeconomic conditions.  The challenges are greater for girls with disabilities who already face discrimination due to deep seated unfavourable gender stereotypes.   

Despite poor learning facilities and the lack of qualified and well-motivated teachers, the number of learners at Bandar Girls’ Primary School has increased from 790 in 2022 to 1,420 in 2023.   

Out of the 1,420 learners enrolled at the school in 2023, approximately 1,400 were reported to have been attending regularly.  Among the 20 learners who were not attending regularly are four female and two male learners with physical disabilities whose poor attendance is attributed to limited accessible transportation facilities.  

“Six children with (physical) disabilities were almost dropping out of school because they had nobody to bring them to the school, and in school, it seems they were not being attended to as needed. Most of them went home without learning to the same level as their colleagues. Most parents, and society in general in South Sudan, still believe it is a waste of time and resources to spend money on the education of children with disabilities,” said Simon.  

Last year, the Girls’ Education South Sudan (GESS) programme included a training session on creating an inclusive school and creating a conducive learning environment, both in school and at the household level. Bandar Girls’ Primary School is one of ten schools in Malakal County and 130 schools in Upper Nile State selected to benefit from the training on school governance. During the training, the School Management Committee (SMC) went through eight modules, including how to carry out elections for SMC members; their roles and responsibilities;   how to plan and conduct effective SMC meetings; how to raise and manage school funds; how to create a school vision and assess school needs; and how to keep a record of school development plans and budgets.    

After the training of the SMC last year, the members formed an Inclusive Education (IE) Sub-Committee, responsible for increasing enrolment and improving learning outcomes for children with disabilities.   

The IE Sub-committee started their activities by conducting a disability and inclusion audit, including an assessment of school accessibility, with a focus on issues that hinder children with disabilities from accessing school regularly. Some of the issues they identified included a lack of support for children with disabilities and an environment that does not support learners with disabilities. The sub-committee advocated for the allocation of 50,000 South Sudanese Pounds (SSP) (about $ 50) from the 476,789 SSP (about $ 477)   capitation grant allocation to help support learners with disabilities.   

Sub-Committee for Inclusive Education at Bandar Girls’ Primary School

To ensure learners with disabilities are not discriminated against in the school and are involved in all school activities, one female teacher was nominated from the Sub-Committee to pay close attention to the needs of learners with disabilities; to sensitise the rest of the learners on how they can support their fellow colleagues both at school and in the community; as well as encourage children with disabilities who are not in school to enrol; and encourage learners with disabilities to participate in all school activities, including sports. She receives a small increment in her salary to perform these tasks. 

The IE Sub-Committee bought sanitary pads for the four female learners and school bags for the two male learners with disabilities to motivate them to attend school. As a result, it is reported that attendance of learners with disabilities has improved.   

Despite this improved support, the school still lacks quality inclusive teaching and learning aids. “This school needs a lot of support. We hope for an increase in the value amount of cash transfers for girls with disabilities and include boys with disabilities to benefit from cash transfers to remove the financial burden on their parents,” concluded Simon.   

Learners with disabilities still face difficulties in reaching class. The IE Sub-Committee hopes to use the next portion of the grant to pay part of the transport cost for these learners.   

The accessibility of schools has been identified as a major barrier to inclusion. By giving grants to schools, as well as training these schools on how to use them to improve inclusion and accessibility, schools are becoming more accessible to children with disabilities. GESS continues to learn about the key barriers to education for children with disabilities, for example effective social protection interventions, referral pathways and support to families with children with disabilities to equip them with skills to meet the needs of all their children adequately.  

With support from UK aid, the Government of Canada, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) the European Union (EU) and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), GESS continues to support learners with disabilities across South Sudan to stay in school and complete their education.   

  To find out more on GESS’ disability inclusion activities, go here:  

https://girlseducationsouthsudan.org/activity/disability-inclusion  

Categorised in: Capitation Grants, Disability Inclusion, Girls' Education, Human Interest Story