Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang is scheduled to appear before members of the National Assembly Committee on National Cohesion and Equal Opportunity tomorrow to address concerns regarding capitation to Special Schools.
The PS will outline the government’s policies aimed at supporting infrastructure development in Special Schools and elaborate on the curriculum and co-curricular activities in the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) designed to support mentally handicapped learners.
This parliamentary session follows a previous directive from the National Assembly Committee on National Cohesion and Equal Opportunity in April, where they urged the Ministry of Education to double capitation for schools catering to learners with special needs.
The committee, chaired by Mandera East MP Yusuf Adan Haji, emphasized the importance of giving special attention to schools for children with special needs to address the challenges faced by both teachers and students in those institutions.
“We shall make sure no student with special needs is left behind,” Haji said during a visit to St Jude Malaba Special School for mentally challenged children.
The Kenya Society of the Blind has also weighed on the matter, calling out the government on the disbursement of funds to special needs schools saying the money is never sufficient.
“A braille machine which costs Sh140,000 is not equivalent to a pen that costs Sh30. This tells you that a special needs school needs more funding than the other regular schools,” KSB Executive Director Samson Waweru said.
He advocated for higher allocation of funds to the special needs institutions saying the schools require more resources than regular schools.
