South Sudan Education Stakeholders Call for Mandatory Disability Inclusion Training for Teachers.
A five-day Education Cannot Wait (ECW) training that ended on Friday 17th November in Juba aimed to empower partners to be agents of disability inclusion in schools.
Participants in a group photo after the training in Juba. Photo: Estella John/Save the Children
At the closing of the training organized by Light for the world and Save the Children over the weekend, the Director General in the Ministry of General Education and Instruction, Ms. Esther Akumu, has called on teachers to undergo inclusive education trainings.
“We are going to have teachers trained on inclusive education. It is going to be mandatory in order for teachers to understand that every child is important. Children with disability should be taken to schools to learn”, Akumu, said..
Education stakeholders and partners will be able to understand disability and inclusion from a rights-based perspective, identify the barriers that exclude people with disabilities in the context of humanitarian action, find practical solutions to overcome barriers and include people with disabilities in their projects.
Knowledge gained by participants during the training will mainstream disability and inclusion in the various organizations and schools.
“We are going to work as a team to ensure that we come up with inclusive programming, and make sure that our schools are inclusive”, said, Okello Dominic, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) ECW project manager stated.
During the training education partners pointed out that “in some of the communities, some children with disability are kept at homes without being sent to schools and in some worst-case scenarios they are hidden from public eyes”
Mandela Isaac, a Senior Disability Inclusion Facilitator of the training is visually impaired;
“I am not sick. People with disability are seen as sick people. People with disability are not the problem but the society are the problem. Awareness need to be created for communities to understand that disability is not inability”, Mandela has said.
Seeing Mandela facilitating given the fact that he has visual impairment, I have realized that all the negative sayings were just people’s words and opinions but we are all equally capable and able”, Micheal Makuach Aguto, Meal Coordinator for Help Education South Sudan. “For this wasn’t just a training to me, it has given me a chance to see the other part of humanity. I’m much convinced and impressed that disability isn’t inability”, said Michael.
Since 2020, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is supporting partners in improving access to quality inclusive education for children and adolescents and increasing retention rates. ECW’s funding focuses on the most vulnerable ones, including girls, internally displaced children, and children with disabilities. Interventions range from covering school fees, reaching students remotely, training education personnel, to implementing child protection pathways in schools.
Written By Estella John/Save the Children
Edited By Tito Justin/Save the Children
