By Amoto Ndiewo
Primary school tutors from in Loitoktok Sub-county of Kajiado County have been trained on a project that will see the incorporation of special needs pupils with normal ones.
The pilot project will involve forty tutors from ten schools.
During the training, the Loitoktok Special Needs Education (SNE) sub-county coordinator Patrick Nanguniin said the goal was to integrate students with special needs with others in the same public institutions.
Nangunin added that mixing the different learners in community schools will help them develop socially and academically.
‘’The program is hoped to lessen the burden on parents with such children who might be looking for institutions that offer special needs services that might be far way away from home ,’’ he said.
The sub-county Chief noted that enrolling learners with special needs in local schools will help them interact with their parents or caretakers on regular basis.
He said the SNE training for tutors is an eye opener for the surrounding community, who will slowly appreciate children with special needs.
‘’However, the elephant in the room is that such students are often stigmatized,’’ the coordinator regretted, adding that their lack of support and understanding was another hurdle for that category of learners.
Nangunin heaped praise on the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), saying it fully embraced the concept of inclusivity of such learners.
“In this respect I plead with school heads to take steps to ensure that the environment in their schools is favourable for students with special needs,’’ said Nanguniin.
He urged the local communities and their leaders to raise awareness about special learners and advocate for their acceptance as well.
