• The pupils drawn from Homa Bay Town, Rangwe and Ndhiwa constituencies are to benefit from the initiative by Plan International.
• Plan International Homa Bay project officer Mary Ochieng said they want to ensure the pupils with disabilities get a good education.
More than 300 pupils with disabilities in Homa Bay are set to receive wheelchairs, crutches, artificial legs, eyeglasses, guiding sticks, hearing devices to improve their learning experience.
The pupils drawn from Homa Bay Town, Rangwe and Ndhiwa constituencies are to benefit from the initiative by Plan International.
Plan International Homa Bay project officer Mary Ochieng said they want to ensure the pupils with disabilities get a good education.
Ochieng spoke on Tuesday when she distributed devices to 11 pupils at Kabunde in Homa Bay town.
She said that many children were out of school due to disability.
“These children can neither go to school nor participate in activities which can make them self reliant. We hope the situation will be reversed with these devices,” Ochieng said.
Plan International is partnering with Norad – a Norway based organization – to deliver the devices.
Ochieng said their assessments had revealed that some parents were hesitant to support their children with disabilities.
“We found out that several children were being locked indoors by their parents because of disability. These children also have the right to get an education,” she added.
Children officers John Kabasa (Ndhiwa) and Joseph Otieno (Rangwe) told parents not to keep their children with disabilities indoors.
“It is an offence not to let your child play or go to school. Let’s come out and ensure children with disabilities get registered so that they can get help,” Kabasa said.
Homa Bay disability self groups representative Philip Kabuor asked the county government to enact policies that will help their kind.
“Let the department of gender come up with policies that would protect disabled persons to access job opportunities in the county,” Kabuor said.
Kabuor said that a lack of opportunities for disabled people had prompted many parents to lock their children indoors.
“Most of the parents have lost hope in their children with disability. Many households with disabled persons are poor,” he added.