Kibabii University 1st International Conference; June 22-24,2016

Wafula Robert Wekesa, Rachel Kamau Kang’ethe & Nyakwara S Becky

Abstract

Our world now regards being educated so highly making education a human right. Therefore, it
is now expected that every child, regardless of their social status, physical or any other disability should access to quality education. Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in education are major international commitments to the achievement of universal primary education for all children and the inclusion of children with SNE in education at all levels. Recent statistics from UNESCO’s EFA Global Monitoring Report indicate that approximately 27 million children in the Common wealth do not attend school due to special needs education such as those with Mathematical Difficulties. While there are no hard figures to illustrate how many children with Mathematics Disabilities are not in school, studies indicate that 10 -20% of children in a regular class in India have MD and 6-10% in the US. In Kenya 20 – 24% children in regular primary schools have MD. These children struggle a lot in their education, become stigmatized and may drop from schooling if early intervention is not given. Since most of them are in the regular primary schools, effective intervention can be done in the same schools. It was against this background that the UN Secretariat’s Education Section adopted the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities in March 2007 and started the process of compiling lessons from promising practices in the provision of inclusive education, especially for children with disabilities such as MD. The focus was to persuade members Kenya being one of them to implement inclusive education. In this vein, the Kenyan Government conducted a National Survey for Persons with Disabilities in 2008 and found that 4.6% of Kenyans experience some form of disability, comparing favorably to the WHO’s estimate of 10% globally. From studies reviewed, children with MD form a population of about 20% of the entire population in the regular primary schools and hence the need to practice inclusive remedial teaching to avoid them becoming stigmatized and excluded from education due to a mixture of fear, shame, and ignorance. To address the marginalization of children with disabilities, and its limiting outcomes, the Kenyan government committed themselves to the provision of inclusive education to all children irrespective of their gender, age, and the physical and mental ability. Furthermore, it emphasizes inclusive education with particular focus to marginalized groups, especially children with special needs and those with disabilities. However, the extent to which this program (of inclusivity) has made an impact on the ground is still a bone of contention. The purpose of the study: was to examine the effectiveness of inclusive remediation of MD in primary schools in Butere Sub County, Kakamega County. Specifically, the study sought to: assess the impact of Early identification of MD and the Remedial Teaching in a regular primary school (inclusive set up) on the mathematics performance for pupils with MD. Selective factors influencing effectiveness of the inclusive education in the study area were also examined.

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