A Non-Governmental Organization, Sight Saver International in partnership with Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) has embarked on a training program to officers manning assessment centers in Homa Bay County.
The training targeted 8 Educational Assessment and Resource Centres officers (EARC) drawn from 8 sub counties within the County to equip the officers with relevant knowledge which would enable them to do their work professionally.
The officers were being equipped with various assessment skills to enable them assist children living with disabilities so that they get proper placement in the correct educational institutions.
Speaking on Tuesday during the one day workshop held at hotel in Homa Bay Town, the organization’s Project Coordinator of Inclusive Education in Homa Bay county, Charles Odol said that they were working closely with government officials to ensure that children living with disabilities complied with the requirement of the law before being placed in special schools.
Odol who was accompanied by EARC officer in charge of Homa Bay Sub county, Tobias Apuko and Head of Assessment department services in KISE, Dan Hwaga further called on parents to ensure all their children got the required education regardless of their status.
He said that children living with disabilities also have equal rights to education and they should be well assessed and taken for medical intervention in recognized medical institutions then placed to their corresponding schools.
Apuko added that they would conduct an outreach exercise in order to get children living with disabilities within the villages in Rangwe Sub County.
He said that the exercise would start today at Manga primary school, Got Nyagosi, Nyakwadha and Asumbi Mixed and would be conducted by officers from KISE and EARC centres.
While Hwaga revealed that the assessment process is faced with various challenges such us use of incorrect tools in screening and follow up activities in assessment, lack of personnel and lack of well-defined program in work. He said they were working on ways of overcoming these challenges.
By Lencer Opiyo/Davis Langat
