By Joseph Ng’ang’a (KNA)
The Ministry of Education is working towards ensuring that children with disabilities are included in the Universal Health Care programme, which was launched by President Dr. William Ruto during Mashujaa Day on Friday.
Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ezekiel Machogu said that the Universal Health Care programme will enable the learners to access critical therapy and rehabilitation services which will help alleviate the severity of their special needs and disabilities.
Speaking on Thursday during the 29th graduation ceremony of the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE), Machogu said that this move will also encourage many out-of-school children with special needs and disabilities to be enrolled so as to benefit from the programme.
“Today, the Institute is awarding 664 Diplomas in Special Needs Education and 207 Certificates in various aspects of special needs. With this, the Country now has a force of more than 30,000 solid professionals to serve in the areas of special needs and disabilities,” said the CS.
Machogu said that the role of the parent in the growth, development, and education of children cannot be gainsaid.
“Indeed, this is the reason Parental Empowerment and Engagement is one of the guiding principles of the Basic Education Curriculum Framework,” he said adding that the engagement of parents of learners with special needs and disabilities is critical for the provision of assistive devices, care and management in both school and home settings.
“I am aware that the Institute has initiated the process of putting up a Parental Empowerment Centre. I assure you that the Ministry of Education will continue to give necessary support towards the completion of the Centre. This will go a long way in building the capacity of the parents towards Individualized Education Programs for the learners as well as their life skills enhancement,” said Machogu.
The CS highlighted that the Diploma in Special Needs Education is required to be aligned with the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) as he directed the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) to liaise with relevant stakeholders and hasten the completion of this curriculum, as well as the Diploma in Sign Language Interpretation, which has been pending for over eight years.
“The Government has remained committed to the education of learners with special needs and disabilities. In this light, we have emphasized that the learners are provided with appropriate assistive devices, technologies, and specialized learning materials,” said Machogu.
The CS announced that the Ministry has decided to centralize the provision of these devices through the Kenya Institute of Special Education.
“We shall shortly flag off the first batch of this centralized distribution of assistive devices and specialized materials for learners with special needs and disabilities valued at Sh87 million. This will benefit 101 schools covering all the Visually Impairment and Hearing-Impairment schools,” explained Machogu.
He added that the next batch for special schools supporting the other specializations, including Physical and Intellectual disabilities, will also be dispatched in a month’s time.
“Noting the gap that has existed with respect to repair and maintenance of assistive devices and technologies across the country, we must depart from the point where there is no deliberate plan in place to service these critical devices that have previously led to unnecessary wastage and loss,” said the CS.
Machogu said that the Ministry has identified KISE to offer this critical service to special schools, units, and inclusive programmes across the country. This will ensure that learners with special needs and disabilities continue to benefit from these worthy devices for the longest time possible.
“To improve access to Assistive devices and specialized learning materials locally, as well as reduce overreliance on importation, the Government allocated the Institute 30 acres of land at Mavoko in Machakos County for purposes of establishing a Major Production Unit,” added Machogu.