Serving students with special needs: Palpable lessons from University of Dar es Salaam's 40 years sustained experience

Abstract

This qualitative study investigated the support Students with Special Needs (SSN) receive and the challenges providers of such assistance face at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). The university has witnessed a significant increase in the number of SSN, and their effective learning depends heavily on the support available. This study was conducted at the UDSM—Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Mlimani campus through semi-structured interviews with 15 participants, and the collected data were analysed thematically. This study established that the UDSM's efforts to support SSN include establishing a dedicated centre, procuring modern assistive devices, recruiting specialist staff and personal assistants (PAs) to provide individualised and tailored assistance. Additionally, the university has developed comprehensive policies and guidelines to regulate the services provided to SSN. However, several challenges were reported, including lecturers' reluctance to submit examinations and lecture notes to SSN, reluctance of some students to disclose their disabilities, scarcity of experts and some SSN turning support services into income generating project. Despite the UDSM efforts to support SSN, further initiatives are imperative to enhance inclusive education in higher education.