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SEN OVERSEAS
Supporting deafblind children in Kenya Clair Watson visits an East-African specialist unit that’s setting new standards for SEN support
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n 2002, it was estimated that 5.9 million children attended primary school in Kenya. The introduction of the Free Primary Education Policy in 2003 wavered levies, enabling many more children to access basic education and a better life. Today, about eight million children are thought to attend government primary schools. To educate such a large number of children comes with challenges. Funding isn’t available to build extra classrooms or hire more teacher to accommodate the growing numbers. Consequently, classrooms are jam packed and it is common to have 60 or more children per class. The teaching is very didactic and text-book driven, followed by end of term exams with little notion of differentiation. Kenya has a population of roughly 47 million and there are believed to be around 17,000 deafblind people. The concept of inclusive education is relatively new in Kenyan classrooms, as historically all children with SEN have attended special schools or special needs units attached to regular
Students working together at Kilimani School.
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What makes this school different is that visually impaired children are integrated into mainstream lessons schools. These units cater for children who have hearing, visual, physical or mental impairments. Children with other difficulties such as, communication problems, autism or multiple physical disabilities, are often excluded. There are only five primary schools across the country that cater for deafblind children and five vocational centres. In the last year a new curriculum for the deaf and blind has been implemented to make sure all children receive a unified level of education and to prepare them with life skills. A community based education (CBE) approach for deafblind children is currently being developed. This
approach will ensure children have access to the primary curriculum at home and incorporates holistic rehabilitation and therapy. This approach is currently being piloted in Kenya for six months with 27 children. The CBE curriculum, manuals, systems and resources are currently being produced to better support teachers and parents. The programme is planned to then roll out on a larger scale across the country.
Work in action On a recent visit to Kenya I was fortunate to spend some time at Kilimani Primary School, Nairobi. The School has over 1,200 children and just 26 teachers. The average class size is 50 to 60 children. But what makes the school unique is its Deafblind Unit. I was shown around the Unit by its Director Mary Maragia. Mary is a very experienced practitioner who has worked with deafblind children for many years, served as a translator and lectured at local universities. In 2012, she was given a scholarship by Perkins International School for the Blind and studied for a year in the USA. Despite the lack of resources, her advanced training and leadership skills have enabled her to be creative and transform the Unit to be one of the best in Kenya. The Unit opened in 1986 to support visually impaired children. The children spend time in the Unit with their specialised teachers, who support them with reading and writing Braille. The unit has received ongoing support from the African Brail Centre (ABC) WWW.SENMAGAZINE.CO.UK