Austin Mabol and Ramadan Dante, determined special needs students at Supiri Secondary School Juba, have juggled untold challenges, in their pursuit for the fruits of education

By Ajah Jennifer

Austin Mabol and Ramadan Dante, students of Supiri Secondary School Juba, are just a handful out of the many students with disabilities who beat the odds to sit for the recently concluded South Sudan Certificate of Secondary Education (SSCSE) examination.

The journey has been very challenging for the duo due to the lack of schools for people with special needs in the country.

Austin, who is head of the Students’ Union at his school, is visually impaired due to the measles disease he contracted during childhood.

“I was with some relatives. My parents made a mistake. They left me, and did not take care of me,” Mabol recalled how his parents failed to provide him with medical care during childhood.

Mabol grew up in a cattle camp where having access to healthcare remains a challenge to date.

However, he is proud of himself despite the challenges and encourages his colleagues not to be discouraged with their status.

Mabol encouraged fellow students to keep hope, “I usually say determination is the success of life. Whatever you are doing, you must focus.”

Ramadan Dante, a deaf student, says he was born with the disability and has always faced several challenges in accessing education.

Dante always requires the assistance of his teacher Mr. Charles Soka, a religious education (CRE) teacher at the school during learning sessions.

Mr. Soka is not a trained translator and sometimes finds it hard as he is not a professional in sign language.

Mr Soka emphasized the need for assistance for students with disabilities and called on the government to employ translators at schools to help students like Dante.

“From Monday to Tuesday, he (Dante) doesn’t write anything because no one can translate for him.”

Dante attends classes only on Thursday and Friday when his translator was present.

He is often engaged in washing cars in the neighborhood to raise his school fees.

“I start from my house, where I come from I’m the firstborn. I’m responsible for all the kids. Wherever I used to go, I used to be a leader. I wanted to represent South Sudan abroad,” he explained.

Dante wishes to become a lawyer in the future.

One special needs school, for multiple needy students

Rajef Educational Center for the Blind is the only special institution of learning for visually impaired in the country.

The institute was established in 1982 by the Norwegian Association of the Blind and handed over to the national government in 1993.

The center’s syllabus includes mobility and orientation for movement, training on this one, white cane, brain system, reading by touching as well as training on tasks like digging, farming, washing clothes, ironing and even sewing. However, due to resource constraints, the center is unable to teach some of these activities.

“The center is surviving with the people of goodwill and other NGOs and companies,” said Anthony Pitia Joseph, a volunteer at the centre.

The center faces challenges with feeding as donors are the only hope for them. There is also the issue of transport to work.

The school consists of classes 1-5 and an additional rehabilitation class where they are taught to master the braille and then integrated into the education system to complete their studies.

The learners are normally integrated into schools like  Buluk B1, B2, C3, and Buluk Model and higher education schools like Juba Day, Superi, Juba Girls, Lui Girls and Chinese Friendship.

“Education of visually impaired people or blind people, their education is very expensive because of these things,” Anthony said.

Anthony encouraged their students to seek assistance from the centre if the need arose.

He also called on the government to include the school and institutions like it in the national education budget.

Meanwhile, the school continues its efforts to create awareness and reduce stigma through announcements in churches, and radio stations for the new academic year.

Dalia Achan Martin, one of the students of the center who is about to complete her senior four at Juba Day Secondary School, requires assistance to write her exams since no system has been put in place to facilitate students with special needs.

Dalia said the ministry needs to put a system in place to help them not only in examination but also through their secondary education and urged the government to create training for teachers to learn the braille system which would aid the visually impaired.

The headmaster of the school of the visually impaired said the ministry had failed to send aid for the students with disabilities and students like Dalia needed to get their aid during the exams.

“Unfortunately, not all can get aid,” the headteacher remarked, referring to schools for the deaf.

“I start from my house, where I come from I’m the firstborn. I’m responsible for all the kids. Wherever I used to go, I used to be a leader. I wanted to represent South Sudan abroad,” Ramadan Dante, a special needs student at Supiri Secondary School Juba.