To be blind and to be a girl especially in rural Uganda has been noted as a double jeopardy for many young school goers in the country

The Uganda National Association of the blind has appealed to government to empower the blind girl child arguing that blind girls form the biggest number of school dropouts

Richard Anguyo

The Executive Director of UNA, Richard Anguyo say there is still stigmatization and discrimination against the blind and this has made many to drop out of school..

Anguyo says a baseline survey conducted May 2010 indicated that lack of responsibility and discrimination by parents was a major factor for the drop out of blind girl from schools

Speaking at a function where Standard Chartered Bank handed over 30 walking sticks to the association, Anguyo said some parents and society members regarded blind girls as sexually inactive thus not targeting them for relevant sexual skills education for adolescents

With statistics already showing a high school drop out for girls, Anguyo says blind girls are more at risk of all the factors that make girls more prone to dropping out of school

By Mugisa Isaac Mathias