By Saidu Kargbo
Freetown, 25th November 2025- At Fourah Bay College (FBC), visually impaired students say their patience is wearing thin as fresh difficulties mount, leaving them increasingly frustrated and excluded.
“We’ve clamoured, we’ve cried, and we’ve sought different avenues for these issues to be resolved. But to our greatest surprise, they’ve not been resolved,” explained Batholomew Tejan Janneh, a third‑year visually impaired student in the Faculty of Communication, Media and Information Studies.
Once celebrated as a symbol of academic excellence in Sierra Leone, FBC now presents daily battles for inclusion that overshadow its grandeur. These are struggles the 2011 Disability Act, particularly sections 14 and 16 was meant to address, but has not.
Janneh’s frustration stems from long‑standing neglect. He noted that since the 2022/23 academic year, their concerns have gone unattended. The Student’s Grant‑in‑Aid (SLG), which once provided relief, has been dissolved. Between 2018 and 2021, the government under President Julius Maada Bio disbursed thousands of grants, benefiting 8,112 students. But as the scheme phased out, visually impaired students were left grappling with rising fees and dwindling support.
“Every year, the fees are going up. And the more they go up, the more challenges we face,” Janneh said. “We don’t have access to the library as visually impaired students because there are no Braille books.”
Alhaji Lolleh, a second‑year student in Peace and Conflict Studies, echoed similar concerns. He cited difficulties in accessing grades, obtaining admission numbers, and transcribing lecture notes into audio formats. “We also find it challenging to get lecture notes transcribed into audio and inserted into a USB. The time I use to record notes would better be used to study,” he explained.
These struggles come at a time when even able‑bodied students face hardships at Aureol. Yet visually impaired students remain determined to pursue education rather than resign themselves to begging. They continue to fight discrimination and rejection, proving their ability to contribute meaningfully to society despite barriers.
Mariama S. Kainessie, a Diploma II student in Gender and Development Studies, voiced her frustration with unmet promises. “Our constraints as students with special needs at FBC are really tedious. We sometimes get frustrated pursuing our dreams,” she lamented. She said she had heard of free tertiary education for students with special needs at government universities but has not benefited from the Student Loan Scheme. She called on government to extend Chief Minister David Moinina Sengeh’s flagship Radical Inclusion initiative, which pledges equal access to education for marginalized groups.
The Chairman and Chief Commissioner of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities acknowledged the challenges. He said the Commission is working with the Office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs to review the 2011 Disability Act and clarify provisions on free tertiary education. He described the current law as “resistant” and admitted that institutions often impose extra charges, leaving many challenges unresolved.
Despite their frustrations, visually impaired students insist they are not coercing the government but pleading for action. They want commitments fulfilled and solutions implemented to ensure their rightful place in Sierra Leone’s education system.
