The County Government of Nairobi has partnered with the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) to construct 17 special needs centres.
Speaking at KISE headquarters during The African Summit on Inclusive Early Childhood Care and Education (IECCE), Nairobi County Director of Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) Ruth Owuor said that the county has already allocated capitation funds for the project.
“We will construct 17 centres for children with special needs. Out of these, two will be stand-alone and will even include therapy rooms,” she said.
Owuor noted that the project is part of Governor Johnson Sakaja’s County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) which he pledged in his manifesto during campaigns leading to the 2022 national elections.
The two parties are finalizing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between them before beginning of the construction phase.
KISE Director and Chief Guest Dr. Norman Kiogora said that there have been regarding putting up a counseling centre for parents with special needs children.
He said that the community should increase inclusion of special needs children and intensive training of teachers on how to handle the children.
Director and Founder of The Action Foundation and Africa Disability Collaboration (ADC) Vice-Chair Maria Omare said that the conference was crucial for stakeholders to learn from experts on IECCE on how to strengthen service delivery for special needs children who have been marginalized.
The award-winning disability inclusion advocate said that they work to reach young children and girls with disabilities; and engage caregivers to help them build better lives for themselves, grow their resilience and cultivate lasting change.
The climax of the summit saw the launch of the ‘Innovations in IECCE in Africa’ publication.
UNICEF official Takumi Mito said UNICEF will continue to support programmes that target ending of exclusion, discrimination and violence towards children.
He noted that many parents with special needs children sink into depression due to lack of counseling with most of them lacking energy or money for their own therapy.
According to UNESCO, approximately one billion people have some form of disability with over four in every five persons living in developing countries. Of these, 93 million are children under the age of 14 living with moderate or severe disability.
The Global Monitoring Report 2010 stated that an estimated 77 million children were excluded from education, a third were children with disabilities. In Kenya 13 percent of Kenyan children live with some form of disability.
By Obegi Malack
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