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Daily Monitor: - Ntinda School of the Deaf empowers disabled learners with vocational skills:
Rose Nalukwago, 14, has a dream. The primary six pupil is working towards becoming a banker, a job she believes she can excel at due to her passion for mathematics. However, according to Nalukwago’s teacher, Ms Joseline Byamukama, she will have to overcome more odds than the average child to live her dream. This is because Nalukwago is deaf and dumb. She studies at Ntinda School for the Deaf.
Currently, deaf and dumb children only have a specialised school that caters for primary school education.
Those who wish to continue with their studies beyond that, are enrolled in secondary schools for able-bodied students that provide sign language experts for the deaf students. But in last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations, only 11 out of the 31 pupils of Ntinda School for the Deaf who sat the exams qualified to join post-primary education under Universal Secondary Education. The year before, only five had qualified.
Ms Byamukama says because the chances of pupils like Nalukwago achieving their dreams are not so high, the school tries to empower their pupils with vocational skills that can help them to be self-employed. However, the Ntinda School’s head teacher, Ms Juliet Mary Tumuhairwe, says vocational training is an area where the government does not provide funding – meaning each school has to cater for its own needs. Uganda has only two primary boarding schools for deaf and dumb students in Ngora District and Ntinda, as well as units in 21 of the 111 districts across the country.
“The academic part is catered for by the government where they pay the teachers…, but more assistance is needed in vocation because the materials we use in that area like the chemicals are more expensive than in the academic area,” she said.
Ms Tumuhairwe explained that they rely on donors to ensure their students are equipped with vocational skills. “But In areas like carpentry where they have not injected money, we don’t even have the timber to use and the tools are worn out,” she says. Founded in 1959, Ntinda School for the Deaf currently has 210 pupils; 104 girls and 106 boys. Currently, the school conducts vocational training classes to students in primary four to seven. The school provides tutoring in carpentry, home science, agriculture and crafts. During a visit to the school last week, the pupils were engaged in a series of creative activities, like making earrings out of jacaranda tree pods.
Other activities that the pupils are engaged in include weaving, knitting, tie and dye designs, making cards for occasions, making sculptors, and painting of creative art pieces. Other students are engaged with carpentry, cookery, and a series of agricultural activities on the school’s six acre farm. Ms Nulu Nantongo, the agriculture department head, says: “We have many things which are missing,” she said. “The tools are not available. These days we don’t have animals. Due to the financial problems, we decided to sell them and then maybe in future we will re-stock the farm with items for poultry, rabbit keeping and animal husbandry.”Ms Nantongo says such items are necessary for teaching the disabled children from a very early age since it takes more time than normal to identify their areas of interest and guide them.
Rose Nalukwago, 14, has a dream. The primary six pupil is working towards becoming a banker, a job she believes she can excel at due to her passion for mathematics. However, according to Nalukwago’s teacher, Ms Joseline Byamukama, she will have to overcome more odds than the average child to live her dream. This is because Nalukwago is deaf and dumb. She studies at Ntinda School for the Deaf.
Currently, deaf and dumb children only have a specialised school that caters for primary school education.
Those who wish to continue with their studies beyond that, are enrolled in secondary schools for able-bodied students that provide sign language experts for the deaf students. But in last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations, only 11 out of the 31 pupils of Ntinda School for the Deaf who sat the exams qualified to join post-primary education under Universal Secondary Education. The year before, only five had qualified.
Ms Byamukama says because the chances of pupils like Nalukwago achieving their dreams are not so high, the school tries to empower their pupils with vocational skills that can help them to be self-employed. However, the Ntinda School’s head teacher, Ms Juliet Mary Tumuhairwe, says vocational training is an area where the government does not provide funding – meaning each school has to cater for its own needs. Uganda has only two primary boarding schools for deaf and dumb students in Ngora District and Ntinda, as well as units in 21 of the 111 districts across the country.
“The academic part is catered for by the government where they pay the teachers…, but more assistance is needed in vocation because the materials we use in that area like the chemicals are more expensive than in the academic area,” she said.
Ms Tumuhairwe explained that they rely on donors to ensure their students are equipped with vocational skills. “But In areas like carpentry where they have not injected money, we don’t even have the timber to use and the tools are worn out,” she says. Founded in 1959, Ntinda School for the Deaf currently has 210 pupils; 104 girls and 106 boys. Currently, the school conducts vocational training classes to students in primary four to seven. The school provides tutoring in carpentry, home science, agriculture and crafts. During a visit to the school last week, the pupils were engaged in a series of creative activities, like making earrings out of jacaranda tree pods.
Other activities that the pupils are engaged in include weaving, knitting, tie and dye designs, making cards for occasions, making sculptors, and painting of creative art pieces. Other students are engaged with carpentry, cookery, and a series of agricultural activities on the school’s six acre farm. Ms Nulu Nantongo, the agriculture department head, says: “We have many things which are missing,” she said. “The tools are not available. These days we don’t have animals. Due to the financial problems, we decided to sell them and then maybe in future we will re-stock the farm with items for poultry, rabbit keeping and animal husbandry.”Ms Nantongo says such items are necessary for teaching the disabled children from a very early age since it takes more time than normal to identify their areas of interest and guide them.