ishekye, uganda

Ishekye Primary School for the Handicapped endeavours to provide quality and accessible education for its cohort of both able-bodied students and students with disabilities.

The school is nestled within a hilly terrain on the outskirts of Kabwohe Municipality in the Sheema District, located approximately 360 kilometers from Uganda’s capital city Kampala. Every day the sand-coloured brick classroom blocks that make up the main body of Ishekye Primary are teeming with learning and growth. Children with a diverse range of needs bustle about in the motion of attending lessons, completing the activities prepared and assigned to them by a caring and dedicated team of staff, who watch over them and curate a safe space for them to learn.

Unfortunately, Ishekye Primary School is under-resourced, and deals with challenges such as unmet construction needs and lack of a wide range of supplies that could improve learning and lesson-preparation for the staff and students. With sufficient funding and aid, Ishekye can ensure that its students are given ample opportunity to succeed in an environment that allows them– regardless of ability– to thrive.

Although classes are being regularly held on the school premises, parts of the school are still under construction or need to be renovated. Every day, students traverse unpaved pathways, which pose a danger to those using wheelchairs and other mobility aids. Level walkways are necessary to alleviate this danger, but due to the steep geographical terrain the school resides on, building the foundations will incur additional costs.

When the sun hangs high in the sky to signify midday, the children gather to share a meal provided by the school. A newly improved kitchen would ensure that the process of feeding them is cleaner, safer, and more efficient. When the day draws to a close after a busy schedule of lessons and activities, some students retreat to the classrooms which are being used to house them. The school is looking to establish two new dormitories to provide proper lodging for these students, with proper bedding and a design that caters to the spatial needs of wheelchair users and the physically impaired. Other necessary constructions include lightning conductors, electrical installation, solar panels, and fire extinguishers.

Each day at Ishekye, staff work diligently to prepare material for the students and run lessons, even going the extra mile to support their visually-impaired students by setting up and using braille machines. To continue providing quality education for its students and reduce the likelihood of burnout for staff, the school requires a variety of supplies and equipment that can improve learning conditions and streamline lesson preparation. Staff of Ishekye also invest time into ensuring the fitness levels of all able-bodied and disabled students are maintained, and the students can benefit physiologically and learn essential life skills such as teamwork by participating in sports. Sporting equipment such as footballs and goal nets, netballs and goal posts, shot puts, discuses, javelins and tape measures– as well as team-oriented supplies such as uniforms, shoes and umpire whistles– will be of great help to the school. Balls for visually impaired students will help to foster inclusion even in physically demanding areas such as sports, underpinning the school’s mission of accessibility.

A total of $74,450 needs to be raised to help Ishekye meet their goals and sustain the needs of their staff and students.