By Lydia Ngoolo
Kathonzweni HGM head teacher Stephen Mutua has called upon parents of children with special needs to take them to school and stop seeing them as a curse or a burden.
Speaking at his office, Mutua who heads the integrated school with about 21 children living with disability, said such kids require education like any other.
The public school which has a population of 400 had 23 candidates with 300 and above out of 58 candidates.
The top girl Lydia Paul had 389 followed by Joseph Chege with 384. The school mean grade was 285.7 up from 272.9 in 2019.
Infrastructure is the main challenge and many classes need to be modernised. He pointed out that the special unit which houses those living with disability poses many challenges to them.
Makueni branch Knut PWD representative Christopher Muli who teaches in the same school called for the special unit to be registered on its own so that it can benefit independently.
The special unit matron Rose Mutisya decried lack of school fees for some parents.She expresses her worry that some parents just dump the kids in school only to pick them during closing or midterm. “We even have to force some of them to come for their children. They care less about fee payment,” she adds.
Mutisya observed that there are two matrons in charge of 13 boys and eight girls. The children used to undergo therapy twice a week but now they are getting it once per week for lack of enough money to pay the specialist.
Out of the therapy, she has witnessed about seven of them practise walking and leave wheelchairs forever.
“Initially they use crutches and walking frame, then start walking by themselves and that’s it. If the therapy can go back to twice per week I’m sure many will walk,” adds Mutisya.
Mutisya joyfully noted that they call them normal not challenged since many of them are very sharp upstairs. However there are those with speech problem as well.
She added that they teach the children how to depend on themselves and urged parents to take the children early to school for early correction of their disability.
However, she called for good a Samaritan to provide wheelchairs, adding many wheelchairs are too old and others are of poor quality. They need diapers, crutches, walking frame, soap, tissue and even clothes especially more pairs of uniform.
“There are those who need pair of pair of uniform and diapers as well,” Mutisya said.
“We need to more special needs kids to be assisted. Dorm capacities are 50 for girls and 50 boys. They only have 21 kids therefore a shortage of 79.
She noted that there are still parents hiding their children at home and others who don’t know whether such schools exist.
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