Inclusive Schools And The Perforn4anace Of Pupils With Hearing Impairment In Lærá District. The Case Of Lira Municipality

There are number of the schools in Uganda that have taken the initiative to provide education to the children with special needs (CWSN) including those with hearing impainnent (HI). These include both government and private schools. Among these the researcher has developed interest in the educational provision by the inclusive schools to children with Hearing impairment (CWHI).

According to Opira, C (2011) inclusive schools refer to those schools that address the learner's needs within the "main scream" using the available resources to create opportunities to learners in preparation for life.

He further continued that a good quality of life refers to: self reliance, accepting yourself, being accepted by others and able to communicate.

Inclusive school (IS) plays the following roles in the education of CWHI:

Provide opportunity for all learners including those with Hearing Impaiment to attain basic education.

Advocate for collaboration and involvement of stakeholders in supporting learners to attain basic education.

Expect children to educate within their setting.

Aim at enabling learners to attain education relevant to their needs as well as that of the community they live.

According to Uganda National Association for Deaf (UNAD) Infomaation Handbook (2001), the education of CWHI was started in Uganda in 1958 by Uganda school for the Deaf. Later on, some districts opened units and schools for the Deaf learners ,among these was Lira district. One of the schools opened was Nancy School for the Deaf that is still in existence and located in Lira Municipality: But is alarming that traditionally, disability is associated with curses. witchcraft and misfortunes in most parts of Ugandan society. Some parents, guardians, teachers and the general public consider children with disability (CWD) as less productive in a way that they cannot do anything good. This concept led to the rise of negative attitudes such that CWHI are made to be labourers and they are called with all sorts of abusive names. The negative attitude from the community gave birth to some factors affecting inclusive schools in the provision of education to CWHI in particular.

However, the Ugandan constitution of 1995 chapter 4:30 recognizes the need to educate CWD as recommended by Kajubi Commission (1989). But still many teachers, parents and communities' attitude towards education of persons with disability (PWDs) is not yet positively cultivated.

Most parents, educators and policy makers look at this as wastage of resources, time and extra burden to cater for the needs of CWD.