Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress International Special Education Conference Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity? 1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland

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INCLUDING THE DEAF IN THE MAINSTREAM CLASS IN KENYA

Y. Jacob Kiptarus
The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
jakiyat@hotmail.com

INTRODUCTION:

Kenya, a signatory to resolutions to the United Nations Conventions on the rights of children in 1990 has committed herself to champion education for all (EFA), which was in the recent past put in the limelight when introducing free primary education. Primary education takes 8 years, which starts at the age 6 after receptions, and kindergarten placements whereby a lot of activities designed to prepare the child among others socially, psychologically and physically to tackle future education programmes take place. After kindergarten, the following phases follow: lower- classes 1-3; middle- 4-6; and upper-7 & 8 respecrtively. Enrolment in the lower phases in comparison to the other two is high. However, as they advance, many pupils drop due to among others, scarcity of basic needs and/or re-allocation of the disabled to integrated programmes (mainstream school). Since the introduction of these programmes in the 90’s, Kenya has experienced slow and gradual development in her practices towards inclusion. However, whether these children’s needs are catered for is an issue worthy investigating.

Globaly the trend towards the integration of children with special needs has been high on the agenda following the Salamanca conference on the future of special needs education (UNESCO, 1994) . Apparently, integration has been overtaken by ‘inclusion’; a term that is often still used synonymously. However, Davies (2003) points out a distinction, suggesting that integration is associated with the child adapting in order to fit in an existing environment whereas, inclusion is vice versa.

Kenya is currently promoting integration as a means to meet the challenging demands of disabled children, such as the deaf.   As mentioned earlier on, deafness refers to hearing a loss ranging from mild to profound, which of course is a misconception. Owing to scarcity of resources and proximity of special schools all children of school going age are sent to the nearest school possible. Although the Government advocates for all children as deserving a right to education in the mainstream, there is no clear distinction pointing to a particular group of disability with regard to how their needs could be met. Nevertheless, the policy has it that the disabled are to be integrated in the mainstream, which in practice is often not the case. For example, children with disabilities are attached to units within the schools.   Reflecting societal negative attitude towards the learning of these children, some mainstream teachers label their colleagues ‘Deaf Teachers’ as if to suggest that they are also deaf. Although the Government is committed to supporting integrated programmes, there is, therefore, still the major challenge as to how such a policy can be successfully implemented.

It is in the light of this that this proposal attempts to focus on deaf pupils who would be withdrawn from a resource room (commonly known as units) to learn alongside their hearing peers. Observations and interviews as the primary research instruments will be employed both in the mainstream and the unit. However, an audiotape will be used in the later instrument to grasp missed conversation.

CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK     

Kenya’ History of special education dates way back in 1940’s during the demand for support of the war veterans who were either blinded or deafened. Seemingly the education of the disabled has gradually grown. In an attempt to improve service provisions for children with disabilities, the government in 1986 established a specialised teacher training programme. In 1988 in the Kamunge report, mainstreaming the disabled in schools was spelt out as a policy. Then, in 1990, the implementation of integration policy was enforced. That led to the opening up of units in the mainstream primary schools, as opposed to special schools, which saw high rates of enrolment. On the For example, a typical unit for the deaf comprises of less than 12 pupils who would be withdrawn in turns into the mainstream class for specific subjects. This practice is very common in the lower phases, such as those in year one, two or three. This is a group of pupils believed to be sociable. However, due to the shortage of specialised-trained personnel, and negative attitude of both the teachers and hearing peers towards their learning, a mainstream class might accept less than three disabled pupils at a time. This has resulted to teachers reluctantly accommodating them, and requiring them to be taught by ‘special education teachers’.

            Karugu (2002), in an overview of special education in Kenya, gave some findings from a survey questionnaire he administered on educationists in four geographical regions (Districts) in 2001 with regard to whether Kenya has a policy on inclusive education. 84.3 percent of the respondents said that there was no policy; 9.8 said that there was; while 5.9 percent represented missing data. On the other hand, Muuya (2002), in a similar study based on a survey targeting head teachers of both special schools and units, reported high rates in pupil enrolment, whereby the highest was recorded in the category of those with hearing impairment. However, the two studies do not spell out what exactly the deaf may require in order to access the curriculum, such as the need for support. A director of education in one of the regions mentioned the progress of both the visually impaired and those with learning difficulties in mainstream schools (www.eastandard.net July,12,2003). However, the deaf and physically handicapped were not mentioned. These, among other reasons, provoked me to find out what actually happens on the ground based on theoretical perceptions of some international authors. Upon the search of literature, I realised how important it was to investigate classroom practices. Particular attention was paid to the learning of deaf pupils alongside hearing peers in a mainstream class. This was steered by the assumption that deaf are fully dependent of support services in a learning processes, which this enquiry aims at pointing out the practices that are implicit yet worth emulating in a mainstream setting.

            The deaf, like any other group of students with disability or special educational needs (SEN) are entitled to education regardless of their disability (Johnson, 1995). For example, during the early stages of my career as a teacher, I realised how important it was to create awareness on pupils’ educational needs, which I thought were not met due to possibly handicapping conditions. This was noted as I interacted with pupils, teachers and parents during open forums. Although I was a trained teacher, I was steered to train further as a teacher for pupils with disabilities. As the course progressed, I was inclined to becoming a specialist for the deaf. During a master’s degree programme (M.Ed in Special and Inclusive Education) in 2001-2002 academic year, I conducted a small-scale enquiry in an English school. The research interest focused on teachers’ perception towards including the deaf in mainstream school pointing to emergent themes as language; a medium of communication, the need for qualified staff, and the necessity for support (Yator, 2002) . That focused on teachers’ attitudes, which in the course of the enquiry saw the need to approach from deaf pupils’ perspective by listening to their voices. This was aimed at identifying inclusive practices that promote mainstream learning.

            Although the Government advocates for integration of, for example, the deaf, it appears that there is no follow up programmes to evaluate/monitor the practice. Arguably, it is one thing to integrate yet the other to be part and parcel of a unit. Acceptance amongst individual groups, teachers/teachers, teachers/pupils, deaf/hearing peers and vice versa respectively is a factor. Subsequently, learning that is theory-oriented may discourage pupil participation in tasks thus the tendency to be subjected to boredom and deprivation of, among other aspects, cognitive, social, and emotional development. However, of greater significance therefore is the challenge to meet the demands posed by the deaf child hence:

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM :

The disabled such as the deaf; a marginalised group due to handicapping condition are vulnerable to segregation in mainstream settings due to, among others, negative attitude towards learning by some hearing peers and regular teachers concerning future prospects. Therefore, it is worthy investigating inclusive practices that might promote learning of the deaf in a Kenyan mainstream primary class.

AIMS OF THE STUDY:             

1.          To understand how Kenyan classroom environments can be adapted in order to overcome the barriers experienced by deaf pupils; and

2.          To analyse the teaching approaches currently in use with a view to determining approaches that will be feasible within the context of Kenyan classrooms.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS :            

• What are some of the limiting factors that prevent deaf pupil participation/ involvement in classroom tasks in Kenya?
• How are some of the teachers’ teaching techniques influencing deaf access to the

Curriculum?

• What are deaf pupils’ perceptions towards learning alongside their hearing peers and vice versa?

                                 REFERENCES

Daily Newspaper (July, 12, 2003). www.eastandard.net   (Accessed in January, 12, 2004)

Davis, P. (2003) Including Children with Visual Impairment in Mainstream Schools: A Practical Guide. London: David Fulton Publishers

Johnson, T. (1995). Inclusive Education. UNDP, Geneva

Karugu, G. K (2002) Status of Special Education in Kenya: A survey research paper (not     published)

Muuya, J. (2002) The aims of special education schools and units in Kenya: a survey of head teachers. European journal of special needs education, Vol.17, (3), 229-239

UNESCO (1994) The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education: World Conference on Special Needs: Access and Quality, Salamanca, Spain 7-4 June 1994: UNESCO

Yator, J. (2002) Attitudes of Teachers towards Inclusion of the Hearing Impaired Pupils in the Mainstream Class. Unpublished M. Ed dissertation

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