Barriers t Barriers to Effective Provision of Guidance and Counselling vision of Guidance and Counselling Services to Students with Visual Impairment: Experience from Government Secondary Schools in Tanzania

Abstract

This article explores the barriers to effective provision of guidance and counselling services
for students with visual impairment (SwVI) in government secondary schools in Tanzania. It
hinges on the social model of disability, qualitative phenomenological design and data from
both primary and secondary sources to investigate the lived experiences of students. While
acknowledging the contribution of existing studies to our understanding of the subject matter,
it focuses on students with visual impairment in secondary schools because they have received
relatively less attention. Concomitantly, the article extends the application of the social model
of disability to the domain of school-based guidance and counselling, highlighting how
institutional neglect and structural barriers extend social exclusion. The findings reveal
conspicuous and persistent barriers that provide a more formidable challenge to inclusive and
effective guidance and counselling services. The study calls for policy reforms, the development
of inclusive counselling guidelines, professional capacity building, and targeted resource
allocation to create a more equitable and supportive educational environment for learners with
visual impairments.