15 primary school teachers have concluded training on inclusive education processes in Kapoeta South County, Eastern Equatoria state.
The training was facilitated under ADRA South Sudan’s “Together for Inclusion” (TOFI) project. It focuses on, among others, skills of handling disabled and abled children in their respective schools.
“We found that sometimes teachers in different schools end up leaving children in that same classroom not because they want but it is because the teaching does not cater for the needs of every child,” said Paul Otto, TOFI Project Manager -ADRA South Sudan.
The one day capacity building training targeted teachers from Lomilmil, Longeleya, Kotome and Nachilagur Primary Schools.
“We want to make sure that teachers should start from Scheme of Work and Lesson Plan so that when they go in for implementation of the different plans in the class they are able to cater for every needs of every child in that class,” Mr. Otto emphasized.
For their part, the teachers acknowledged that the training was necessary to enable them cater for all learners.
“There are different children in the class with different disabilities, this (training) is the way we can teach them so that we cannot leave some of them behind,” said a teacher from Lomilmil Primary School.
“This is to uplift us teachers on how to teach categories of children in the school especially with disabilities and also without disabilities,” said another.
The Association of Persons with Disabilities in greater Kapoeta said people with disabilities continue to experience challenges in accessing school facilities and other learning opportunities in Kapoeta South.
According to association’s chairperson, Alimpio Loriang, most of them leave far distances and others also lack tuition fees.
“Some parents are not able to pay, and some teachers cannot teach in Braille – for instance the sign language,” he said “these are the challenges that persons with disabilities face.”
Mr. Loriang appealed to humanitarian partners to continue providing regular training for teachers to effectively cater for learners with disabilities.