Special needs education included in CBC, says CS

Education Cabinet secretary Prof George Magoha yesterday assured teachers and learners of Special Needs Education (SNE) that the government will include them in the ongoing curriculum reforms.
He said this month, teachers will be trained on key components of special needs in their Competence Based Education (CBC) sessions towards addressing challenges of human resource capacity in SNE institutions.
Saying all learners have equal rights, Magoha added that books being prepared for Grade 4 next year will take into consideration special needs.
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Education reforms
He emphasised the need to focus and respect children and learners who require special needs, saying over the last three years, access to education for learners with disabilities and special needs has gradually increased.
“I want to assure my attention will shift there. Let us stop stigmatisation every time we think of a special needs child. They have equal right only that some require more attention than others.
In the CBC, we are training teachers to take care of special needs and want to assure it will be considered with more attention,” said the CS.
Magoha made the remarks at Kenya Institute of Special Education, during the pre-conference on expanding inclusion of SNE in education reforms.
“CBC will transform the country by identifying the potential that children have and nurturing this through a curriculum that is designed to emphasise application of knowledge,” the CS said.
The CS tasked the stakeholders to come up with views on how to deal with existing challenges in the sector including lack of comprehensive policy guidelines on inclusion at all levels of learning and appropriate tools and equipment.