Mustafah Bbiya a P.6 pupil at St. Balitta Lwogi Primary School in Luweero district was visually impaired but managed to overcome multiple challenges to reach a level of education. Bbiya said on a daily basis he suffered physical violence and insults from fellow learners. “Sometimes you get slapped for nothing. When you ask why they deny.” Said, Mustafah Bbiya – Disabled Pupil. He was a Compound Prefect at his school but he faced difficulty commanding other pupils. Many pupils showed him little respect and some even insulted him because they knew there was little he could do. “Pupils refuse to do what I ask of them. One might even pinch you.” Said Bbiya.
The school had 611 pupils and 15 of them had different forms of disability. Ashraf Ssekidde a primary four pupil faced similar challenges at school. “Sometimes when am seated in class, one slaps me from nowhere.” Said Ashraf. “They suffer all sorts of violence, physical; they are also beaten, they suffer sexual violence, they suffer emotional violence.” The school also had two visually impaired teachers to whom the pupils would go for advice and counseling. “The child is ever absent-minded because he thinks that after here I will be insulted, I will be beaten...” Said, Olivier Nakanjako – Visually Impaired Teacher. “But we tell them that you just need to be focused on education however much they insult you or nickname you, come to teachers.” Said, Christopher Azora – Visually Impaired Teacher.
Research conducted from 2012 – 2015 in 42 Luweero schools by a None Government Organization called Raising Voices revealed widespread abuse of disabled children rights. The report which was launched recently revealed that 99% of disabled children reported physical violence while 24% were sexually abused by both learners and teachers. Hassan Muluusi of Raising Voices said these children deserved a right to education and it was everyone’s responsibility to keep them in school.
“The children without disabilities to support their colleagues and their peers who have disabilities. And also to encourage whole-school integration. They can also reach their potential and interact freely with the rest of the children.” Said, Hassan Muluusi – Raising Voices. Luweero District Education Officials said they had embarked on a sensitization campaign to curb the levels of abuse against disabled children in the district. “Once he is teased, he feels isolated and therefore the next day or the next term he will drop out of school.” “That’s why we are laboring a lot to build confidence in them by eliminating any sort of violence in them in the whole school.”
