IMPACT OF COVID19 ON EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

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Do Children with Disability Matter During this Covid19 Pandemic?

This question hit me hard as asked by one of the parents having a visually Impaired child in the slum areas of Kampala; she narrated to me how her son finds it hard navigating a world which society created for those that do not have a disability.

Before we get answers to this question, we need to look at barriers hindering participation of persons with disabilities in accessing Education materials Distributed by the government During this COVID 19 Global pandemic

The most recent 2014 population census indicates that 12.4 % of the Ugandan population lives with a disability. Living with a disability categorizes this group as part of the most vulnerable people.
However, persons with disabilities tend to be forgotten not only during planning but also a midst a crisis like the COVID-19 that has hit the continent. Better strategies need to be put in place to ensure that persons with disabilities have an easy access to the supplied education materials 

Back to Education, once the the Lock down settled into account an urgent key need emerged in the national conversation - Education essentially paraphrased by children must continue to learn, The Government  quickly reacted to the question , Around 20th /03/2020 The National curriculum Development center (NCDC) issued learn from home materials, online and Televised classes were adopted on all popular stations in the country and out comes ensured that young people were still able to make educational progress in spite of the prevailing crisis.

This approach all pivoted around typical kids and mainstream provision was filtered out neglecting the Children with disabilities. Reading and writing for these children is at pause since they are not considered at all in the given provisions regarding education.
Let’s get clear on this Children with Disabilities need to be treated same as other, we need to adopt new strategies and maintain them even after the pandemic, The need for special study materials should as well be looked at and how to access them, Sign Language interpreters on televised classes should be introduced as well.

Humanity matters and our children matter ,Value people for people and the inherent intrinsic worth that comes with being Human, We need to act Now.


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