Breaking Stereotypes: Stakeholders push for special students' inclusivity in Education

Students at Daisy Special School in Kakamega.[Benard Lusigi,Standard]

Parents and guardians with children who need special care have been urged to embrace and accept their children in order to have access to quality education.

Daisy Special Boarding and Day School Head Teacher Bishop Eliud Walwanda said parents have neglected their children on the basis of stigmatization and witchcraft allegations making it difficult for the pupils to report to school.

"We are having children with epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and other complications, most of the pupils who are staying in school have been abandoned by their parents and they no longer visit them or make a follow-up on their well-being and this has left the school to take charge something that is expensive and it is becoming difficult to run the school without parents support," said Walwanda.

"We have a population of 400 students and all of them are physically challenged but the population is reducing because most parents have not yet accepted the condition of their children due to stigma. This has made most guardians neglect their children due to harsh cultural beliefs towards children living with disability something that has led to some dropping out of school."

Invest and Grow (IG) Sacco representative and one of the Directors David Moiya speaking during the handover of water tanks, bedding, and relief food told parents that their acceptance and love towards their children is what will make the children stay in school and overcome stigma.

"These children are what we have been blessed by God, if parents accept the condition of their child and show love to them, it will help the parents to overcome the stigma and even make the children accepted in the community and stay in school and learn because disability is not ability," said Moiya.

David Moiya from IG Sacco hands over water tanks to Daisy Special School Head Teacher Eliud Walwanda.[Benard Lusigi,Standard]

Moiya maintained that as a Sacco they will continue supporting needy students in schools in order to have access to education.

However, with the heavy rains and El Nino expected in the country, the IG Sacco maintained that they are out to help schools in areas that are prone to heavy rains on how to mitigate the effects of the rains.

"We noticed that most of the schools have no capacity to store and harvest water and the situation has really compromised the sanitation of the schools, as we expect El-Nino we are assisting schools with tanks for storage of water and as part of mitigating the effects of rain where schools can be able to store the excess water," said Moiya.

Kelvin Ombuke, Marketing Officer at IG Sacco said the initiative to help schools and needy students during this rainy season and even after the rains will continue to ensure there is a conducive environment for children to study.

"We are going to help schools in our area of operation and this is geared towards ensuring we secure a safe environment for our children to learn and stay for a brighter future," said Ombuke.