- A nationwide assessment will identify assistive devices and specialised materials required by learners with disabilities.
- KISE assessors will collect learner-specific information across all 47 counties under the KPEEL programme.
- The real test will be whether identified needs translate into resources reaching learners in schools.
Kenya’s commitment to inclusive education is about to face a more important test than policy declarations or enrolment statistics: whether learners with disabilities actually receive the support they need to learn, participate and realise their full potential.
The Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) has taken an important step in that direction by launching a nationwide assessment of learners with disabilities. Assessors are being deployed across all 47 counties to identify learners who require assistive devices and specialised learning materials and determine the nature and extent of support needed.
The exercise is being undertaken under the Kenya Primary Education Equity in Learning (KPEEL) Programme, facilitated by the Government of Kenya in partnership with the World Bank. Its central objective is to generate reliable information that can guide the identification, procurement and provision of appropriate support for learners with disabilities.
The importance of this exercise cannot be overstated.
Inclusive education cannot be measured simply by whether a learner is enrolled in school or physically present in a classroom. A learner may attend school every day and still remain excluded if they cannot access learning materials, communicate effectively, move around the learning environment or participate meaningfully because the necessary support is unavailable.
This is why accurate assessment must become the foundation of disability-inclusive education planning.
Resources must match individual learner needs
For years, one of the challenges facing special needs education has been matching available resources with the actual needs of individual learners. Broad classifications alone cannot adequately capture the complexity of disability. Two learners with the same broad disability category may require completely different forms of assistance depending on the severity of their impairment, their learning environment and their individual circumstances.
Opening the induction session for the assessors, KISE Deputy Director, Programmes, Dr Lynett Ong’era, emphasised the institute’s mandate to serve persons with disabilities and stressed the importance of collecting accurate and comprehensive information.
The assessors will draw on expertise in different areas of special needs education to assess and categorise learners according to their individual needs, type and degree of disability.
The exercise will initially focus on schools serving learners with visual, hearing and physical impairments.
This approach is important because assistive support must be learner-specific. A learner with visual impairment may require specialised reading materials or assistive technology, while a learner with hearing impairment may require different communication and learning support. A learner with a physical impairment may face mobility and accessibility challenges requiring an entirely different intervention.
The assessment should therefore help move Kenya towards a more evidence-based system in which resources follow clearly identified needs rather than assumptions.
Representatives from the Ministry of Education, including Dr Hellen Boruett and Grace Okoth, attended the induction session, underlining the importance of collaboration between institutions responsible for implementing inclusive education.
But the assessment itself is only the beginning.
Assessment must translate into actual support
The greatest danger would be for Kenya to collect detailed information about learners with disabilities and then fail to act on it. A sophisticated database cannot transform a learner’s educational experience unless the information it contains is translated into practical support.
If an assessment identifies a learner who needs a particular assistive device, that device must ultimately reach the learner. If specialised learning materials are identified as necessary, they must be procured and delivered. If a school requires additional resources or support to accommodate learners effectively, those requirements must be incorporated into education planning and budgeting.
This means the success of the KISE exercise should not be judged merely by the number of learners assessed.
The real test will be whether the exercise creates a functioning chain from assessment to planning, budgeting, procurement, delivery and follow-up.
That chain is critical for accountability. It can help policymakers establish how many learners have been identified, what they need, whether those needs have been addressed and whether the support provided is actually improving participation and learning.
The exercise could also expose disparities between counties and schools, helping the government target resources towards areas with the greatest needs.
Most importantly, it could help redefine what inclusive education means in practice.
Inclusion is not simply putting a learner with a disability in a classroom and declaring that the learner has been included. It means removing the barriers that prevent that learner from accessing the curriculum, participating in classroom activities, communicating, moving safely within the school environment and demonstrating their abilities.
That requires more than goodwill. It requires accurate data, adequate financing, appropriate technology, specialised materials, trained personnel and sustained monitoring.
From assessment to measurable outcomes
The KISE-led assessment therefore presents Kenya with an opportunity to strengthen the practical foundation of inclusive education. It can help transform disability planning from a largely generalised approach into one based on the actual needs of individual learners.
But the government must ensure that the exercise does not end when the assessors leave schools and the data is compiled.
The information gathered must drive decisions. The identified needs must inform budgets. Budgets must translate into procurement. Procurement must translate into delivery. And delivery must be followed by monitoring to determine whether learners are receiving meaningful educational benefits.
That is how Kenya can turn the principle of inclusive education into a measurable reality.
The country has taken an important first step by seeking to understand the needs of learners with disabilities across all 47 counties. The next—and more difficult—step is to ensure that every identified need receives an appropriate response.
READ ALSO: Why two teachers in the same school can produce different learning outcomes
The true measure of success will therefore not be how many learners are assessed, but how many learners subsequently receive the support they need to learn with dignity, independence and equal opportunity.
Kenya must make “leaving no learner behind” more than a slogan. It must become a measurable outcome in every classroom.
By Hillary Muhalya
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