RESIDENTS of Mtwara District Council, Mtwara Region, have welcomed the government’s plan of building a hostel for girls with special needs in the area.
The hostel to be home to 80 girls with disabilities is being constructed at Nangurewe Primary School in Mtwara District Council.
The project worth 100m/- is one among the five development projects set to be inaugurated during Uhuru Torch Race 2023 to be launched on April 2nd this year at national level in Mtwara Region.
Speaking to the “Daily News’ over the weekend, the Headteacher of Nangurewe Primary School, Mr Ally Mohamed, said the construction of the hostel began in November last year and will be completed at the end of this month.
“The construction began November last year and is expected to be completed at the end of March this year,” he said, noting that the hostel is set to accommodate girls with disabilities attending primary school in the area.
Mr Mohammed said the district has many boys and girls with special needs who miss the right to education due to lack of access to a safe learning environment.
Mr Mohammed thanked the government for constructing the hostel saying most of the parents will be relieved from the burden they incur in handling children with disabilities.
“Last census’ results show that Mtwara District Council has over 200 boys and girls with disabilities and most of them are out of school due to various reasons, among of them being lack of access to a safe leaning,” he said.
On the other hand, Mr Mohammed asked the government to consider constructing more hostels in the area in order to accommodate all girls and boys with special needs.
He said the hostel to serve as a centre will have the capacity to accommodate 80 special needs girls, who will be schooling in Nangurewe Primary School.
He also pointed out the need for the government to start upgrading other learning infrastructure at Nangurewe Primary to accommodate special needs pupils.
Meanwhile, parents and guardians at Nangurewe area thanked the government for choosing to construct a hostel at the area saying the move would encourage parents to send their children to school.
“Most parents who have children with disabilities always keep their children at home because of worry for their safety, while in school the coming this hostel would help them to see the need to take them to school,” said Amina Omary a resident of Nangurewe area.
Hassan Hassan a resident at Nangurewe said some parents with special needs children fail to take them to school due to lack of transportation, adding that the hostel will help easy movements of the special needs children to and from school.