| As we reported
in the last edition of the Educator, December 2003 saw the ICEVI research
project in Uganda enter a very productive stage. Our research coordinator
in Uganda, Mr Asher Bayo who is a lecturer in the Uganda National Institute
for Special Education (UNISE), with the close assistance of the Ministry
of Education and Sightsavers International’s Regional Office, organised
an ICEVI research seminar at UNISE on the outskirts of Kampala. The seminar
was attended by senior teachers from across Uganda who are involved in
the education of children with a visual impairment, including Special
Education Inspectors and Special Needs Education Coordinators (SNECOs).
They had all agreed to help collect data on behalf of ICEVI in their own
and neighbouring districts.
At the seminar Dr Mani and I presented the background to ICEVI’s
research initiative and, with the assistance of the senior teachers, devised
a questionnaire and a system for administering the questionnaire across
Uganda. The questionnaire was divided into a number of sections and sought
to obtain information from children, parents, class teachers and specialist
teachers about the factors that influenced access to education of children
with a visual impairment in mainstream schools and the educational experiences
of children when they reached school. It was clear from our discussions
with the data collectors that the data had to capture information about
a wide range of children including children who were successful at school,
children who had dropped out of school, children with low vision, Braille
users, children with additional disabilities and the sample had to represent
a range of ability, economic circumstances and a proportionate number
of girls and boys.
A matrix was agreed that we all felt wold offer the best chance of a representative
sample and the data collectors agreed to return to their districts and
recruit and train three other teachers of the visually impaired to assist
in the administration of the questionnaires. We set a date for the return
of the questionnaires and we were gratified to receive a few weeks later
over 100 completed questionnaires that provided detailed information on
children with a visual impairment from almost every region in Uganda.
The processing of this data is a lengthy task and it is too early at the
time of going to press to draw anything other than broad impressions of
what the information reveals. One thing that seems to be clear is the
strong link between poverty and disability. The poorest children appear
to be the ones who are most likely to be disadvantaged in education and
to be the ones who are most likely to drop out of school. Class sizes
in primary schools in some parts of Uganda can often reach above 180 and
schools are hard pressed to meet the demands of the numbers of children
that free Universal Primary Education has brought into education and the
wide range of need that these children display. The research team have
collected a breadth of information about the general circumstances of
a large number of children with a visual impairment in Uganda but we felt
that a second phase of the research was necessary to add depth to the
data and to triangulate information received through the questionnaires.
So at the end of June and in early July 2004, I spent ten days in three
distinct Uganda regions, travelling hundreds of kilometres and meeting
some of the children, parents and teachers who had contributed to the
process of data collection in the early part of the year. Again the visit
was facilitated seamlessly by Asher Bayo and Sightsavers International.
Accompanied by Asher Bayo, I had the privilege of visiting and interviewing
parents in their homes, children and their teachers in schools, and district
coordinators of services for children with visual impairment in their
offices. It was an extraordinary experience for me and one that provided
rich and complex insights into the situation of the children I met.
On one level I feel that the most recent visit to Uganda helped to clarify
what is possible in conducting research into the education of children
with visual impairment in Africa. With the right contacts and support
it is clear that the research initiative that ICEVI has embarked upon,
although ambitious, is practicable. It is possible to collect wide ranging
and rich data. However on another level, the research is highlighting
the enormity of the task facing ICEVI. The cause of achieving equal opportunity
in education for children with visual impairment that prompted the research
is undoubtedly a just one, but the education of children with a visual
impairment in mainstream schools is inextricably linked to the education
of all other children.
In education systems that are under enormous strains then children who
are visually impaired are particularly vulnerable. In the early stages
there are undoubtedly some social benefits to be derived for the child
who is visually impaired in simply attending a local school. But just
getting children to school is not enough. If children cannot participate
in lessons, if they cannot access information, if they have constantly
to repeat years in school with children who are far below their chronological
age, then they will give up and drop out. Inclusion is about more than
attendance, it is about participation. To be successful in local schools
children with visual impairment need support and how this support is best
provided in educational systems that are under such enormous pressures
is a question that will not be easy to address, let alone to answer. Our
research journey has only just begun, and we have made a good start but
the path ahead is a tough and long one. |