Zakari Garuba, a Senior Secondary School pupil of the school lost his sight to glaucoma two years ago at 18.
”We don’t have adequate learning materials. Since Braille machine is expensive, we use slates and silos as a substitute but it is not even sufficient. We need more typewriters too for our tests and exams.How inadequate special teachers, writing materials affect learning.In its World Disability Report of 2011, the World Health Organisation identified inappropriate teaching materials and methods of assessment as some of the barriers to education for children with disabilities.
The protocol stipulates that “state parties shall take reasonable, appropriate and effective measures to ensure that inclusive quality education and skills training for persons with disabilities is realised fully, including by: ensuring that educational institutions are equipped with the teaching aids, materials and equipment to support the education of students with disabilities and their specific needs” and “training education professionals, including persons with disabilities, on how to...
Regarding amenities in the boarding house, she said ”the hostel is too small for us and overcrowded. We do not have enough mattresses too.” He added that the pit latrines can easily sink and are dangerous to the life and health of the pupils.“Imagine a situation where pupils have to feel the hole before usage; the process is quite clumsy and unhygienic.
He said the school relies on a motorised borehole at the kitchen, which uses solar energy to pump water. Health challenges are not far from the special pupils but the school does not have enough drugs to treat them in the school clinic. Pali, an alumnus of the school, lamented how things had changed for the worse from when he was a student in the 90s.
Another teacher, AbdulAmin Yusuf, who has been with the school since 2008, lamented the school’s poor state. A member of management of the school urged the state government to give incentives to those interested in training special needs pupils to boost motivation for special teachers.