Advancing Sustainable Learning in Education of Learners with Visual Impairment in Historically Disadvantaged Schools

This article investigates strategies for advancing sustainable learning among learners with visual impairments (LVIs) in historically disadvantaged schools in Lesotho, a low-income country. Despite global efforts to promote inclusive education, LVIs in Lesotho continue to experience multiple barriers, including limited access to adapted learning materials and inadequately resourced learning environments. Employing a qualitative participatory case study design and focus group discussions, the study engaged 12 purposively selected participants, including school principals, special education teachers, and general education teachers, from two rural primary schools. Grounded in the principles of the inclusive special education framework, this study contributes to the discourse on promoting sustainable learning by examining specific experiences of LVIs in these contexts. While the focus on LVIs in rural contexts represents one subset of historically disadvantaged institutions, the findings highlight persistent systemic challenges, such as insufficient resources, restrictive learning conditions, and the underutilisation of teachers’ specialised expertise in visual impairment education, that resonate more broadly across marginalised educational settings. Even though its generalisation remains, the study recommends recognising and enhancing the professional status of educators trained in visual impairment, strengthening policy support for sustainable infrastructure, and embedding sustainable learning principles to promote LVI independent learning. By centring the voices of teachers in disadvantaged settings, this research contributes to the discourse on advancing sustainable learning, which offers accessible contextually relevant strategies to advance educational equity and justice for LVIs in Lesotho.