Empowering the next generation

target group: children with disabilities

problem: Lack of inclusive education limiting access to education

A big percentage of children with disabilities don't get to see the inside of a classroom. Most care givers assume taking this child to school is costly and a waste and children being rejected from schools because of their impairment does not make things easy. This is because of the stereotypes that people with disabilities cannot be productive, employed or become useful and are too needy.

In our program our main focus will be to advocate for rights of children with disabilities especially right to education from early childhood. Enabling their access to education and getting them enrolled in school by approaching community schools and doing a sensitization on inclusivity, facilitating enrollment and basic needs to keep them in school including mobility tools aids and other necessary tools.

Another challenge to accessing education by children with disabilities is inadequate trained teachers on special needs and facilities. The project will also focus on training teachers from different schools on special needs  considering they will be handling the pupils. 

In my community I am known as a mental health advocate. Knowing that a number of people reach out to me for emotional support and most of them are young mothers between the age of 18-35 years. one of the biggest challenges is taking their children to school and especially those with disabilities. This is the link to my twitter account, my main advocacy platform apart from offering psychosocial support offering practical help will go miles into achieving a healthier community.

Beginning of June I attended an inception for a leadership program for young women with disabilities in Addis Ababa and one common challenge raised by majority of participants was access to education and those working in support of people with disabilities said while advocating for inclusivity especially in work places, one of the big challenges was lack of professionals among people with disabilities. This is because children with disabilities are not taken to school while others are actually locked away from the society with aim to hide them or protect them from the stigma. one of the participants also talked about her experience on how she was asked to go to a special school. https://twitter.com/ADFSecreta...

ACTIVITIES

Advocating for rights of children with disabilities by creating awareness and challenging the myths and misconceptions attached to people with disabilities to the public mainly through social media and implementation of UNCRPD article 24.

Sensitization and changing cultural beliefs that trigger stigma and discrimination against people with disabilities.

Fund raising to facilitate enrollment and keep children in school (might require paying school fees) for children from poor families.

Train a number of teachers in different schools on special needs.

Capacity building for children with disabilities and their care givers on children rights through training.

Training caregivers on how to better support children with disabilities.

Follow up on enrolled children and regular checks on progress.

Sensitizing schools (public and private), teachers and the general public on inclusive education.

Therapy and counselling for affected children (trauma response), peer support and self care activities.

Advocate for a change in education system to be more inclusive in terms of accommodating children with disabilities including designing accessible structures (embracing universal designs).

OUTPUTS

Enabling access to education for children with disabilities by getting them enrolled in school starting at community level.

Increase in knowledge through education.

Increased self esteem and confidence in children with disabilities and care givers, positive attitudes.

Peer support groups and empowerment - children with disabilities become empowered to be self advocates.

Improved social skills and emotional skills.

Changed perceptions on educating children with disabilities, from being a waste to actually being a tool to empower them to become more independent.

Having caregivers championing for the rights of children with disabilities.

By enabling access to education from early childhood we increase the number of learners in higher learning institutions, therefore increasing the number of professionals among people with disability and creating room for inclusion in work spaces (employment and entrepreneurship)  

Eliminate the charity approach that treats persons with disabilities as passive objects of kind acts rather than empowered individuals with rights to participate in the society and in their development instead of being considered unable to provide for themselves because of their impairment.  

Eliminate stigma and discrimination attached to people with disabilities.

More schools become open to accepting children with disabilities.

Embraced inclusivity and increase participation of people with disabilities in the community and increased capacity to be involved in key decision making.

This project is still in stage one as it is still an idea, although there is enough evidence to show how much children with disabilities are denied their right to education. In my community out of five schools only one has a child with disability. Comparing this reality with the number of children with disabilities that are of age to attend school is quite wanting.

There is also inadequate learning facilities and less trained teachers on special needs. This is evidence on lack of inclusion, the fact that the environment in our schools is not designed with accommodations and modifications that are disability friendly is most likely why many schools don't accept these children. Most children are sent to special schools and those who cannot afford remain at home.

In families where there are more than one child those without disabilities are given the first priority to attend school mainly in poor families. This is because children with disabilities are seen as a burden plus the beliefs that bearing a child with a disability is a curse or witch craft. actually the caregivers who are mostly there parents hide them or abandon them.

According to the National Special Needs Education Survey, it is estimated that out of 750,000 school-age children with disabilities, only 45,000 (6%) are schooling 

 more information on challenges hindering access to education in Kenya for children with disabilities ref; https://www.researchgate.net/p...

Through data collection and record keeping on:

 Number of children enrolled in school after starting the project.

number of teachers trained on special needs.

Number of caregivers trained on handling children with disabilities and children rights

The impact can also be measured by the number of people reached through advocacy programs on social media, by care givers, teachers and the general public.

Accommodating disability doesn't make them dependent on society rather makes them independent and gives them opportunity to be included.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e24rfTZ2CQ

Research question: how can we ensure children with disabilities access education? how can we ensure inclusivity in our schools for children with disabilities? how can be able to acquire data on children with disabilities and access to education?

Empowering the next generation is a project aimed to getting children with disability access to education. Speaking of accessibility this projects aims to answer the following questions:

1. why are children with disabilities unable to access education

2. How do we enable them access to this basic need

3. who do we need to work with to realize this dream

One major obstacle to accessing education for children with disabilities is stigma and discrimination. From caregivers to schools and the whole community. This causes the need to raise awareness on the myths and misconceptions attached to people with disabilities and especially children which will be achieved through advocacy.

There is a need to change the cultural beliefs about children born with disabilities being a curse or witchcraft which has also stigmatized caregivers and the children. Thus, the project will aim at empowering this two sets of people on matters disability, human rights (focusing on the UNCRPD) and how to be productive through trainings and providing psychosocial support.

Inclusion is also another gap identified as a main concern as most local schools are unwilling to accept children with disabilities. Partnering with schools management and doing an inclusion campaign can see these children becoming accepted and included in school programs (article 24 UNCRD)

Getting them included is one thing but getting them enrolled is another elephant in the house. Considering not all children will be able to attend local public schools because of distance, some might need to join private schools or even special schools depending on severity of the disabilities and required assistive devices/equipment. This will require raising funds through grants/donor funds and partnering with other organization and the government.

Another obstacle is lack of facilities and untrained teachers to deliver these services. In addressing this, we are aiming at training teachers on special needs and advocating on changes on our education system to be more accommodative to students with disabilities.

We aim to achieve all this by working with the government on changing the education system and supporting the inclusion program, developing partnerships with other organizations to facilitate trainings and deliver services like therapy and counselling and donate assistive devices/equipment. We will also be connecting with donors for financial support and work with the community to change social norms.