Kenya governnment to spend Sh900m on special education

Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang'i addressing the education stakeholders at the Kenya Institute of Education in Nairobi. The Government has allocated Sh900 million partly to ensure about 100,000 special needs children currently not in school join classes. (PHOTO: PIUS CHERUIYOT/ STANDARD)

The Government has allocated Sh900 million partly to ensure about 100,000 special needs children currently not in school join classes.

The allocation is to increase the number of children accessing education especially at the secondary level, Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i has said.

At the same time, a mapping exercise on all regular public institutions is to be carried out to find out how the regular schools can incorporate the special needs children in a bid to increase access to education by reducing the distance to the few existing special schools.

The CS yesterday said he will join hands with his Interior counterpart Joseph Nkaissery in the ‘flashing out’ exercise that will be executed by County Education Directors and County Commissioners.

“For a country (Kenya) endowed with vast resources, it is not fair to have our children still unable to access education yet we have the sufficient capacity,” said Matiang’i.

He said he will roll out the mapping exercise to identify the regular schools where these children can be accommodated. Matiang’i noted the country has not been enrolling all children with special needs in primary schools as expected, citing the 2015 figure of 2,118 candidates, which is a dismal increase compared to 2,097 in 2014.

The CS was speaking during the opening of the three-day first annual Special School Heads Association of Kenya (SSHAK) conference held in Nairobi.

Being the first-ever conference, the school heads got a chance to vent their discontent with how the sector has been neglected for long.

“Our biggest challenge is funding, which we squarely blame on the Treasury because of delays in disbursement of the funds. We also want county governments to step in,” said SSAK Chairman Arthur Injenga.