By Our Reporter
Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) is in process of adapting course books for Grade Five learners expected to be rolled out in July to suit leaners with special needs.
This is after a successful development and approval of the curriculum support materials that will be used in schools as from July this year, when implementation of the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) will be moving to grade five.
Speaking in Naivasha on April 17, 2021 during the exercise, KICD Senior Deputy Director in-charge of Curriculum Development Jacqueline Onyango said that the right to education for learners with special needs cannot be relegated to the periphery in the guise that additional resources are needed to accommodate their needs.
“The constitution recognises and places all learners at the centre of education and there is no reason to disadvantage others on the basis of how they were born. They deserve quality education as the rest,” she said.
Mrs Onyango who represented the KICD CEO Prof. Charles Ong’ondo stated further that the exercise brought on board curriculum implementers who are persons with disabilities.
This was echoed by Deputy Director, Special programmes at KICD Ms Grace Ngugi Maina, who stated that the panels working on the materials for learners with disabilities must be guided by the adapted grade five curriculum designs, to remain relevant with curriculum requirements.
“It is all about the child and what they are able to do. Otherwise the adaptation will be null and void if you don’t think about the learner’s potential and capabilities,” she said.
KICD expressed optimism that the adapted books will be ready before re-opening of schools so that both the regular learners and those under special needs education benefit.
The rationale for adapting the books is to meet diverse needs of various categories of learners with special needs so that they can also enjoy learning and access quality education, as their counterparts without disabilities.
The process is being led by subject secretaries who are mainly curriculum developers from KICD and whose role is to guide a team of panels in checking what needs to be adjusted in the textbooks that have been approved for regular learners.
The subject areas that each panel is dealing with include Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, Science and Technology, Home Science, Agriculture, Social Studies, Physical and Health Education, Art and Craft, Music, Braille and the Kenyan Sign language.
The learners that are set to benefit from the curriculum support materials include those with hearing, visual and physical impairment; as curriculum experts drawn from the Ministry of Education, KICD, Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) and teachers from special needs education schools spearheading the process.
