Kenya to take census of children with autism

From The Daily Nation in Kenya:

A national census will be carried out of pupils with special needs.

The census will be used to allocate money for those children.

Education minister Sam Ongeri urged parents to enrol the children in public schools so they can be counted.

Every child with special needs will be allocated Sh3,260 while able-bodied ones get Sh1,260 a year under the free primary education programme.

This emerged on Tuesday during the official opening of a unit for children with autism in Nairobi’s Kasarani primary school.

Special needs

Schools that handle the children will further get Sh420 million in the form of grants, he said in a speech read on his behalf by Education secretary George Godia.

The government has listed the special needs education as a priority under the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme.

The five-year programme starts this month.

The programme started in 2003 at the onset of the Kibaki administration that when free primary education became a reality.

The autism unit in Nairobi is sponsored by General Motors, the Local Government and the Autism Society of Kenya.

Autism is a life-long disability which occurs in children making it difficult for them to relate to people, objects and events.

A child with autism engages in repetitive activities, resists daily routine and has non-meaningful responses to hearing, seeing or other senses.

The association plans to establish a centre for all children with autism in every province.

“It is our hope that children with autism will continue to access educational opportunities like all the other children in Kenya,” ASK director Felicity Nyambura said.

Hearing difficulties, loss of sight, dumbness or inability to walk are also considered as special needs.