The education of learners with
disabilities (special needs) in Kenya has been embraced by the Kenya government
as reflected in several policy documents including the Children’s Act 2001, the
declaration of Free Primary Education in January 2003, the provisions of the
Disabilities Act 2003 and the Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005 on the Policy
Framework for Education, Training and Research which guarantee the education
and employment of all persons without discrimination.
In Kenya, special education
existed long before independence since special schools such as Thika School for
the Blind was established in 1946 by the Salvation Army (a church based
organization). However, no guidelines were put in place to guide special
education issues including examinations. Through the recommendations of the
various education commissions in Kenya, the government has stressed the
importance of the education of the disabled in order to assist them to acquire
a suitable foundation for the world of work so as to contribute to self and
society.
Education for learners with
disabilities (special needs) has for a long time been provided in special
schools and special units attached to regular schools. The government
adapted inclusive education to give opportunities to learners with
disabilities (challenged learners) to receive education alongside their
'normal' counterparts in the same environment. Following the introduction of
Free Primary Education (FPE) in 2003, large numbers of children with
disabilities (special needs) were enrolled in regular schools.
The suitability of the regular
curriculum and existing school facilities became an issue for educationists.
This led to the formation of a Task Force on Special Needs Education in 2003 to
look into the educational needs of Special Needs Learners. The task force
recommended among other things that syllabuses for specialized areas be
developed for immediate implementation and that the Kenya National Examinations
Council establishes a section with staff who are qualified in Special Needs
Examination Administration to handle all SNE examinations. The Task force
further recommended that: -
·examinations for
candidates with low vision be adapted considering their different visual
acuity;
·brailled examinations
be marked directly without de-brailling;
·supervision and
invigilation of candidates with SNE be done by personnel qualified in the
various areas of special needs education;
·school based
examinations be developed to provide certification for learners with SNE who
may not be in a position to sit for national examinations;
·Kenyan sign language
be examined at both KCPE and KCSE levels once the curriculum is developed and
approved;
·examination for
learners who are blind be presented using different grades of Braille to cater
for their diversity;
·examinations for
candidates with low vision be adapted considering their different visual
acuity;
·brailled examinations
be marked directly without de-brailling;
·supervision and invigilation
of candidates with SNE be done by personnel qualified in the various areas of
special needs education;
·school based
examinations be developed to provide certification for learners with SNE who
may not be in a position to sit for national examinations;
·Kenyan sign language
be examined at both KCPE and KCSE levels once the curriculum is developed and
approved;
·examination for
learners who are blind be presented using different grades of Braille to cater
for their diversity;
·language examinations
especially in literature and other subjects for deaf (hearing impaired) be
adapted;
·taped examinations be
developed for candidates who may require them;
·time allocation for
learners with SNE be determined on the basis of the nature and severity of
disability;
·alternative modes of
communication e.g. use of computers and typewriters be allowed for candidates
who require them
The government put mechanisms for
early assessment and identification by establishing special education units in
the districts. Teachers for special education are specifically trained at the
Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) which also coordinates the
assessment of children with special needs. However, due to the diversity
of learners with special need, the curriculum developers and the Kenya National
Examinations Council is only able to adapt the curriculum and assessment
methodology for only a limited group of special needs learners while many
others are left to fit within the general educational assessment patterns.
In order for learners with
special needs to benefit from the education system in Kenya, the Kenya National
Examinations Council has found various ways and means in which assessment for
these learners can be made more adaptable to the needs of such learners through
differentiation, adaptation and modification of its examinations, and
examination management. Examinations offered by the KNEC are terminal,
summative and their main purpose is for selection, placement and certification.
The examinations are norm-referenced and are therefore not suitable for the
needs of certain types of special needs learners. KNEC develops or adapts
examinations using the adapted curriculum developed by KISE and where such
curriculum does not exist, and then SNE learners are left to fit within the
regular curriculum.
Differentiation in the curriculum
may take 4 forms namely the development of:
·an adopted curriculum
which involves the adoption of the regular curriculum as it is but focusing the
objectives from the non-handicapped learners to the handicapped;
·an adapted curriculum
where the true curriculum is tailored to the needs of the handicapped learners
e.g. the adapted physical education curriculum. Thus modifications or
adaptations are made to suit the handicapped learners;
·specialized curriculum
– the regular curriculum is exhaustively examined to determine whether the
learner would be able to cope with it. Modifications are then made but
retaining the core characteristics of the regular curriculum structures as a
basis;
·specialist curriculum which
is an entirely separate curriculum developed with a particular target group in
mind. It aims at meeting specific needs of the children e.g. physiotherapy,
occupational therapy, speech therapy and self
Special consideration for
challenged learners is made from the time of registration for examinations to
the issue of results. It must, however, be noted that in all these arrangements
the reliability and validity of tests must be maintained. Special Needs
examinations are currently administered for the Visually Impaired (V.I.) which
includes blind and those with low vision, hearing Impaired (H.I.), physically
and mentally handicapped. The KNEC also administers examinations to cases under
special circumstances in hospitals and prisons. These candidates take the KCPE,
KCSE, PTE and Technical examinations.
In 2010 the Council introduce the
Kenya Sign Language as an examination subject as a language option in place of
Kiswahili which is currently compulsory at the KCPE and KCSE levels.
Differentiation for the deaf include:
·the exclusion of those
aspects that touch on sound and metaphoric expressions from their
test papers;
·time allocation:-20-30
extra minutes;
·allowing a sign
language literate teacher to be part of the examination invigilation team.
From KNEC annual analysis of
performance we find that the Deaf schools perform dismally in the Exams esp in
the English exam – but then again all the exams are written in English. This
English superior attitudinal aspect of the Kenyan education system is very unkind
to the Deaf learner who uses English as a read, written language. Most of the
communication happening within the class room with Deaf students is
predominately in pure Kenyan Sign Language. It is a pity to always watch
teachers – graduates of special education courses, meaning well and trying
their best struggling with a manual code that the students find hard to
comprehend and unnatural. Signed Exact English – SEE is the worst thing our
educationists resorted to after they left oralism, total communication methods
and approaches. In a bid to help the Deaf child learn to write English the
teachers have created a monster code that the kids force themselves to learn,
the result all Deaf children become robots and zombies of some sort when in
class learning the dreaded Englsih – when they are on break or left on their
own they become alive, natural sharing everything from gossip, laughter,
stories, jokes and highly academic discourse. Hence I observe and ask, why do
we do the Kenyan Sign Language Examination at KCSE/KCPE level in the current
format?- Are we perpetuating a failed system?
The script above from KNEC offers
specific opportunities for the Deaf learners to get out of an oppressive system
that is designed to produce failure - not that there are no Deaf Kenyans who
have done well very well in the KNEC exams, there are many.... Why should the Deaf children be examined in these #Kalongolongos?
Some useful reads are here:
However the main
problem remain four fold:-
A. Lack of comprehensive
research, documentation and knowledge transfer between Deaf community and
teachers of the Deaf in regards to Kenyan Sign Language, Deaf culture and
learning styles of the Deaf.
B. Promotion and use of Glossed
English in the Examination system. there needs to be a a forward move away from
Glossed English, Signed Exact English and other manual codes and language
systems to Kenyan Sign Language. This is an attitudinal change, Kenyan Sign
Language in it's richness and entirety is rich enough to teach literature,
poetry, Swahili, English and virtually any field however our learned teachers
have an attitude against this....thus the ill informed decision to remove
teaching of Swahili and Music for the Deaf in schools - a disadvantage and
oppressive policy denying the Deaf the opportunity to enjoy those subjects.
Glossed English advocates have a special space in hell, I often pray that they
will pay for the stigma they loaded on the Deaf children who have suffered in
silence. Technology has blessed Kenya with very rich innovation ecosystem, we
have smart computer application innovations that would digitize Kenyan Sign Language
examinations by use of videos for compositions, narratives and 'writing' for
the Deaf since Kenyan Sign Language is a three dimensional visual language
perfect for video and animation - KNEC do away with the papers - usher in the
digital age in Kenyan examination settings.
C. Lack of proper foundation for
Deaf children ages 0 - 7 years. The current low literacy and cognitive skills
in the Deaf children is due to minimal of total lack of opportunities to
develop their language, communication skills early like their speaking
counterparts. There is need to invest in proper Deaf oriented early childhood
education incorporating the Deaf child, the parents and teacher. The
opportunity to develop a strong language base and foundation sets up the deaf
child for success. This would be achieved by having the school environment
filled with adult Deaf language mentors, peer - peer language transfer, Deaf
teacher reinforcement and parents able to use sign language once the child goes
back home.This partnership presents a huge opportunity for programmers to
create projects targeting parents, teachers especially Deaf and for ECD at the
county level and ECD establishments.
D. Few Deaf teachers - there has
been huge steps to have at least each school of the Deaf to have a Deaf teacher
however we still need more!!! The more the Deaf pupil sees a Deaf teacher,
teaching various subjects and holding leadership positions and an authority
figure the psyche of the student, morale and ambition is triggered to achieve
and perform better. There is power in Role Models for the Deaf. TSC and
Ministry of Education should do more to empower the Deaf to join the teaching
profession.
When we do these things we will
halt the perpetual failing wheel and create a cycle of success for the Deaf in
Kenya. I am reminded here of a project that was dear to my heart - the Global
Deaf Connection - creating the cycle of success one teacher, one school at a
time! Could the Kenya National Association of the Deaf - KNAD revive this
project?
Written April 2015 by Jack Owiti,
Interpreter and Author the Dancing Interpreter Diaries
