The effects of institutional, attitudinal, environmental and financial challenges on the academic performance of learners with physical disabilities in the school: A case of one selected Special School in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia

This manuscript is a study on the effects of institutional, attitudinal, environmental and financial challenges on academic performance on learners with physical disabilities face in schools in Zambia. The study was conducted at Dagama School for the Physically Challenged in Luanshya district. The site was selected because it had learners with physical disabilities. The instruments for data collection included the semi-structured interview schedule for school administrators, focused group discussion for class teachers and learners with physical disabilities, and observation checklist for class teachers and the natural surroundings. The study found that learners with physical disabilities faced challenges in the school and these were difficult in accessing the common bathrooms, mobility problems due to lack of crutches and wheelchairs, poor lighting system in the classrooms and corridors, negative attitude of parents and school administrators towards the learners, unmodified curriculum, being taught by untrained special teachers, inadequate teaching and learning materials, lack of support from the parents, poor payment of school fees by parents, limited support from the well-wishers and little funding from the government. The effects of the challenges on the learners’ academic performance included mobility problems, reporting late for lessons, promotion of dependence syndrome and absenteeism, losing of marks in compulsory and practical subjects, being passive in the class, teachers not providing the necessary skills required by the learners, no prescribed textbooks and psychological effect. The study discovered the measures such as modification of the common bathroom infrastructure, curriculum, maintaining the existing ramps, rails, paved pathways, and double doors, orientations of new teachers in special education, improving the lighting system in the classrooms and corridors, training more teachers in special education, acquisition of appropriate teaching and learning materials, government increasing funding to the school, offering bursaries, involving into self-help activities like farming and fundraising ventures and commitment of the parents to paying school fees and provision of school commodities for the children.