Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in Nakuru county will now be prioritized in the Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teachers recruitment exercise.
The county seeks to recruit 100 ECDE teachers in the current financial year.
According to the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) in charge of Education, ICT and e-Government Ms. Zipporah Ngugi, the decision to prioritize the Persons With Disabilities was part of Governor Susan Kihika’s commitment to comply with Persons with Disabilities Act 2003 and also promote inclusivity and non-discrimination in education.
The Act provides that at least five percent of government jobs be given to persons with disabilities.
Ms. Ngugi said the county government will train all ECDE teachers on how to attend to children with disabilities adding that the County government was committed to giving Persons with disabilities a chance to acquire skills required in the job market.
“Employers should start looking at individuals’ abilities over their disabilities,” said Ms. Ngugi.
She further urged the county to recruit sign language interpreters (SLI) in schools to ease communication adding that ECDE teachers with certificates in Sign Language will have an added advantage during the recruitment.
The CECM made the remarks during a meeting with representatives from the Kenya Institute of special Education (KISE), Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) Organization and the Deaf Child Worldwide Organization (DCWO) at her office.
Ms. Ngugi however regretted that despite persons with disabilities acquiring education, they were still victims of discrimination and stigmatization in workplaces as they were being seen as different and unable to perform certain tasks required in the workplace or regular schools.
She said employment of ECDE teachers qualified as sign language interpreters was not a favour as there is an Act of Parliament which provides a mechanism for ensuring the rights of such persons are upheld and respected.
Ms. Ngugi expressed her desire to see all children in ECDE centers, regardless of their abilities, disabilities, and social backgrounds treated without any discrimination and urged parents to enroll their children with disabilities in school, noting that they would get full support to realize their potential in life.
“We will ensure contractors building school infrastructure factor in disability-friendly designs,” assured Ngugi.
The CECM also urged parents to ensure that their children were screened as early as possible so that if they are diagnosed with a hearing problem, they would be immediately supported to get integral skills such as speech and language.
Society needs to invest in an environment where Persons with disabilities could have access to opportunities that make social, economic, cultural, and political citizenship available to them, added Ms. Ngugi.
The County is partnering with the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE), the Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) Organization, and the Deaf Child worldwide Organization (DCWO) in a six-month pilot study aimed at interrogating factors that result in poor academic performance in learners with hearing disabilities.
The study will also explore ways of improving academic performance and will initially target ECDE learners at Pre-primary (1- PP1) level.