As the Saturday sun softens over Gulu High School, Emmanuel Pirran Lukut threads through the courtyard, guiding a fellow visually impaired student toward the library.
Pirran, 20, is one of three visually impaired candidates among the school’s 58 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) candidates this year.
A resident of Moroto Municipality, he is part of the long-standing legacy of inclusive education at Gulu High School, one of the few government-aided secondary schools in Northern Uganda offering specialised support for learners with disabilities.
Founded in 1914 by Christian Missionary Philips Lee under the Church Missionary Society, Gulu High School began admitting learners with special needs in 1986. Today, it accommodates 676 students, 368 boys and 308 girls, including 32 learners with visual impairment.
What began as a small annexe to support students with visual impairment has evolved into a regional centre of excellence, attracting learners from across Uganda seeking affordable, accessible special needs education. The transformation has been especially meaningful for students like Pirran, who grew up in rural schools with no provisions for special needs learners.
“You study in a school where you are the only person with albinism and with low vision… The friends get fewer every day, but I had to move on. Again, you only sit in a class to listen to teachers and don’t copy notes because you can’t see the writing on the blackboard,” he recalls.
Pirran lives with visual impairment caused by albinism, a condition the World Health Organisation describes as the absence of melanin, a pigment that protects the skin, hair, and eyes from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Without melanin, individuals are highly vulnerable to extreme sun sensitivity, sunburn, and the risk of skin cancer.
In Uganda, the Albinism Umbrella estimates that over 20,000 people live with albinism, facing discrimination, stigma, low literacy levels, and barriers to accessing healthcare. For Pirran, the financial burden of caring for his skin is a daily reality.
Still, he remains determined. With a wide-brimmed hat for protection and access to assistive technologies at the school, he has found renewed confidence in learning. The Annexe section at Gulu High School is equipped with specialised learning aids, including computers with Job Access with Speech (JAWS), a screen-reader software that converts on-screen content into speech or braille.
This has opened a new world for learners like Pirran, enabling them to navigate study materials independently. After scoring an aggregate 16 in the Primary Leaving Examinations, he joined St. Francis Annexe Secondary School in Soroti, obtained an aggregate 39 in UCE, and is now completing a subject combination of Literature, History, and Divinity, with Information Communication Technology as a subsidiary. His dream is to become a teacher and a community psychologist.
Like Pirran, 30-year-old Thojwiga Charles, a resident of Bugana-kicooke Village in Buliisa District, lost his sight at age nine while in primary four at Waiga Primary School. With no special needs school in Buliisa at the time, he dropped out three times.
“I would only sit in class to listen to teachers. I couldn’t see books; I couldn’t see anything. I repeated primary six three times and said, let me stay home because I can’t pass this level,” he recalls.
West of his hometown, 108 kilometres away, Angal Girls Primary School in Nebbi had a Blind Annexe. Determined to continue learning, he moved in with a relative and finally found the support he needed.
A debate competition between Nebbi and Arua changed his life when someone walked in and promised to sponsor him in school. Thojwiga now studies Literature, Entrepreneurship, and Divinity, with IT as a subsidiary and hopes to join a law school and advocate for persons with disabilities.
Uganda ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and Sustainable Development Goal 4 promotes inclusive, quality education. Yet, access remains limited. The World Bank (2020) estimates that 16 per cent of Ugandan children live with disabilities, yet only five per cent can access inclusive education.
For eight years, Kenneth Owiny, now 38, lived with full vision until suddenly, he lost it. Today, he teaches History and Divinity at Gulu High School, inspiring the very students who see their own stories reflected in his.
“I wasn’t born blind, but I had to change from pen to braille. This changed my career three times because I couldn’t do practical lessons in science subjects. Now I am a teacher,” he says.
He explains that the learners don’t see him only as their teacher but as a father because they share a lot in common.
Owiny’s academic journey was also fraught with setbacks. Though selected for a government scholarship under the special needs category, he lost the opportunity because he received the information too late. Six months after the results came out, when he finally reached Kyambogo University to present himself, his place had been taken.
A radio appearance later opened a new door. An admirer of his storytelling offered to sponsor him privately, making him the only student with visual impairment admitted to Uganda Pentecostal University.
As students complete their final papers this season, Owiny remains hopeful that his learners at Gulu High School will excel. The Headteacher, Betty Nakayanzi Mwesigwa, is equally confident: “The learners are well prepared, and I could see from their confidence. We have all the examination materials available, and we hope to see their performances improve when the results come back next year.”
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