The ministry of general education and instruction in South Sudan’s Warrap State Thursday launched a policy that will ensure that everyone has access to education.
The Inclusive Education Policy is a document launched in 2021 by the national education ministry with support from the Light for the World organization to increase education accessibility for persons with disabilities in the country, officials said.
Speaking to the press during the launch, Kuot Deng Kuot, Warrap state education minister expressed his gratitude to the national ministry saying all children will now have access to education.
“Why do we call it inclusive? it is because every lame, blind, or any person with different forms of disability can access education. For us at this level, it is implementation. As long as I’m still the minister in Warrap state, this policy will work,” he promised.
A representative from the national education ministry, Emmanuel Babu, described the project as a milestone in the state and especially for persons with disability who have long been discriminated against.
“It’s another milestone for the ministry of general education and instruction today in Warrap for the policies are designed and ended up in Juba without coming down to states. But, today we have come to officially hand over the Inclusive Education Policy document to state education leaders to take it over from here to ensure that inaccessibility of disabled people is reduced if not eliminated,” he said.
Augustine Ilario Lado, the chairperson of the South Sudan Union of Persons With Disabilities (SSUPWD) who doubles as the disability inclusion facilitator urges the state government to consider the rights of disabled groups in the state.
“On behalf of SSUPWD, I’m privileged to be part of the launch today in Warrap for the first time and I thank Light for the World for the project designed because it will help people with vision and ear impairments,” he said. “The persons with disabilities are completely left out starting from then Sudan and South Sudan.”
“We had only one rehabilitation center in Rajaf since 1982 but recently, the center has been integrated in Juba as a primary school for people with disabilities,” he added.
Ilario further pointed out that persons with hearing and vision impairments cannot access quality education as teachers are not equipped to handle them.
Achulube John, the program manager for Light for the World, said the process to disseminate the policy across South Sudan is being supported by Save the Children.
He said, after Kuajok, they will move to Aweil, Malakal, and the rest of the country.