MPs push for separate curriculum for learners with special needs

Lawmakers now want learners with special needs to have their own curriculum for easy learning.

 The MPs who sit in the Committee on Cohesion and Equal Opportunities raised concerns that academic programmes in Special Schools across the country are disjointed due to lack of such syllabus and text books to guide teachers and learners.

 Led by chairman Yussuf Haji, the committee which was on a fact-finding mission to various schools regretted that special needs children are forced to a curriculum that is tailor made for normal children which hinders them from getting quality education.

 The Committee also called on the government to put all learners in Special schools on medical cover.

 Some of the members of the committee toured Wire, Nyairicha, St Catherine, Malaba and Mukhonje Special schools in Nyanza and Western regions while another group conducted a similar tour in Nyeri and Nakuru counties.  “The Committee’s fact-finding visits to Special Schools has established that the Education Ministry did not factor the institutions in preparations of syllabus and supply of text books suited for children with special needs,” said Haji.

Key considerations

 Haji said the Committee will in future recommend that when the curriculum for students with disabilities is being developed, key considerations should include individualised learning plans tailored to each learner’s needs.

 This, he said, will foster a supportive and inclusive learning environment, provide accessible instructional materials and technologies among others.

 Their recommendations came after members of the Committee came face to face with a myriad of challenges facing a number of institutions thus frustrating efforts to ensure learners access quality education.  “The challenges we encountered ranged from deplorable state of infrastructure, lack of learning equipment and teaching guides, acute shortage of teachers and lack of food,” said Haji.

 He added: “Some school administrators told the Committee that the learners were starving and they had to borrow food from well-wishers to feed them.”

 Haji noted that the Committee has developed a legislation that, if passed, will compel the government to pay care givers of learners in Special Schools.

 This is after the Committee established that in some schools such caretakers had to quit due to non-payment of their dues.