By Alex Kirkwood | Grants Manager
Thank you to all who donated to our Christmas Appeal 2022. Your support will help improve educational facilities for disabled children in Kenya.
There is much social stigma around disability in Kenya, and prejudice against persons with disabilities is widespread and pervades many levels of Kenyan society. One way in which this manifests is a severe deficiency of special schools that are properly equipped to manage disability. Many children with disabilities in Kenya can resultantly have little option but to attend mainstream schools that are unable to provide an education in a way appropriate to disability. The result is that children with disabilities are unable to learn effectively and are at a disadvantage, negatively impacting their performance in examinations and ultimately reducing the career options available to them.
Irindiro Special School in Meru is one of the very few schools in the region specialising in educating children with disabilities. Due to the scarcity of such schools however, Irindiro is heavily oversubscribed, resulting in significant classroom overcrowding, as well as a waiting list of children who are unable to enrol due to the school being already over capacity.
In conjunction with our local partner the Meru North Disability Community Centre (DCC), HATW supports Irindiro where possible as needs arise. We have recently raised funds towards the construction of a twin classroom block that will substantially ease overcrowding at the school. The new facilities will improve teaching and learning at the school and support the school towards enrolling more disabled children in future. Through the generosity of all who donated to our Christmas Appeal 2022, once these classrooms are constructed we will be able to equip them with much needed furniture and teaching support materials. This will include the likes of tables, chairs and teaching materials that will enable Irindiro to begin using the classrooms shortly after the construction work is completed. The furniture will not only serve those children currently enrolled at Irindiro, but will support hundreds more children over their functional lifetime.
Our Christmas Appeal 2022 will shortly be closing, but if you’d like to keep up to date with HATW’s work at Irindiro and elsewhere, you can sign up to our newsletter using the link provided.
Thank you so much for your support.
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