Assessing special needs candidates: Calls for TVET curricula review

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The Uganda Business and Technical Examination Board (UBTEB) has called for a review of technical and vocational education training to ease the assessment of special needs candidates.

UBTEB executive secretary Onesmus Oyesigye said that the board finds difficulty in the assessment of special needs education candidates as most of the curricula in TVET are not designed for special needs trainees.

"It is a great challenge, especially for candidates of journalism and other media and engineering-related programmes, thus the need for reviewing the curricula," he said.

"In addition, while the board established a Special Needs Unit and deploys examination support personnel for candidates with special needs, the instructors need to be retooled to handle learners with special needs in training institutions."

Oyesigye was speaking during the release of the November/December 2023 UBTEB exam results at the Uganda Institute of Communication and Technology in Kampala on Wednesday.

It was revealed that four students who sat the exams failed to achieve all competencies.

Three of the students who failed have hearing impairments, while the other one has physical disability.

In total, there were 98 special needs education candidates who sat the exams, 31 of whom were candidates with hearing impairment, 25 with visual impairment, 11 with dyslexia and 31 with physical disabilities.

In consonance with the Government Constitution (1995), Uganda put in place The Persons with Disability Act (2006) and has also ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2008).

Both instruments demand access, equity and quality as regards educational services for persons with special learning needs.

To meet those requirements, the education ministry put in place a department responsible for special needs and inclusive education.