Disability and completion of secondary education among Disabled students in selected secondary schools

Abstract

The study was set to find out the effect of disability on completion of secondary education among Special Needs Education Students in Moroto district. The specific objectives of the study included: To find out how visual impairment of leaners affects the completion of secondary education among disabled students in Moroto district. To establish how hearing impairment of learners affects the completion of secondary education among disabled students in Moroto district. To find out how physical disability affects the completion of secondary education among disabled students in Moroto district. The study used descriptive survey research design and adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study population was 558 respondents were a sample size of 228 was selected. The study used simple random and purposive sampling as the main sampling techniques. A questionnaire, interview guide and focus group were used in data collection. The study findings revealed that visual impairment is responsible for 42.4% of the variations in completion of secondary education among disabled students. Hearing impairment is responsible for 35.7% of the variations in completion of secondary education among disabled students. Physical impairment is responsible for 41.6% of the variations in completion of secondary education among disabled students. The study concluded that not providing the necessary facilities to teachers and learners makes learning difficult for disabled students and hence affecting their completion of secondary education. The study recommends that the district should put more emphasis on ensuring that timely deliveries are made of materials that can help learners with visual impairment to stay in schools; The management of the district should put emphasis on establishing structures in schools that make learning easy for learners with physical disabilities; The district should consider hiring more teachers with sign language skills so as to help administer lessons to pupils with hearing problems.