Equipment to be used by special needs learners will soon be centrally purchased by the Ministry of Education.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said the ministry is working on the formula to initiate the plan.
Magoha was speaking at Muhuri Muchiri, where he commissioned a Competency Based Curriculum classroom on Wednesday.
“Some of the money that we allow schools to buy the equipment for themselves, should be given to a central unit,” the CS said.
He added that school management in Special Needs Education Services (SNEs) will now pick the required equipment from the centralised place.
“So that we are sure that those equipment are bought and taken to schools,” Magoha said.
He also addressed the state of preparation in SNEs to admit Grade 7 learners.
Magoha said SNEs are being treated "specially" and promised to commission a few classes in that sector, soon.
“We are not duly worried, maybe you are worried because you have not seen me going to open classes there,” he said.
“There are ways and means in which we check special needs.”
In an exclusive interview with the Star on Monday, Nalondo CBM Special National Secondary School principal Walter Kwanusu criticised the ministry for failing to build CBC classrooms for special schools.
“I am wondering how Cabinet Secretary George Magoha wants me to admit CBC students here without a single classroom, I want him to ensure we get some extra classrooms before admission,” he said.
He said, currently, teachers need ample time to cover the syllabus because of the interruption of the school calendar.
Ignatius Aghan said a normal scientific calculator costs around Sh1,500 but a talking calculator for the visually impaired costs from Sh30, 000 to Sh60,000.
Aghan, who is visually impaired, said the talking calculators have to be imported.
He was speaking during the launch of a report by Sightsavers Kenya, which collected the experiences of youths with disabilities.
A number of them called on the government to subsidise the cost of their learning materials, which are costly.
“A braille is equivalent to a pen. A pen costs Sh15 but a braille machine costs around Sh80,000. So the gap is unprecedented,” he said.
Aghan urged stakeholders to implement the use of orbit readers that will be used not only in school, but in the workplace.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
