All is not well at Maranda School – Weekly Citizen

Parents with children at Maranda High School in Siaya county have complained of mistreatment of children with special needs at the learning institution.
The parents who spoke to Weekly Citizen indicated that children who are visually impaired have been left without due care.
The guardians now want Education cabinet secretary George Magoha to come to the aid of the victims most of them who will be sitting for their Form Four examinations next year.
One parent said that the principal Edwin Namachanja has declined to address their concerns.
“The children with special needs are supposed to be trained on how to use brails and large print books while others are supposed to learn with the aid of readers which are nowhere to be seen,” one parent said.
The parents claimed that Namachanja has instead ordered them to take their children to schools which handle such students like Thika High School.
Namachanja said that something is being done about the plight of students with special needs.

He said there are a number of students with eye problems who use spectacles.
“There is only one student who has sight problems. Maranda is not a special school for that matter,” he said.
Namachanja said it would be in bad taste to discuss the student openly.
“I have been in communication with the student’s parents over the matter, something is being done,” he said.
The principal said that grievances which have been raised by the parents have been forwarded to the concerned authorities.
Several parents of children with special needs have in the past complained of mistreatment and discrimination of their children at the school.
They say that the principal has turned a deaf ear to their concerns. A spotscheck revealed that a student who is to be totally blind at the school has no brails and a reader to assist him and on many occasions stumbles on objects and his colleagues along corridors of the school.
He referred us to the Bondo subcounty education boss Elisha Omalla who eventually declined to comment on the issue.
The departmental committee of parliament on education and research last week urged the government to release funds to special schools.
Committee chairman Julius Melly said most special schools are in pathetic state.
Melly particularly singled out Kibos Primary School as a case in point.
He said while in the company of other committee members that the school risked being closed down if funds and learning materials are not dispatched immediately.
Tutors claimed that they use their own personal resources to help the learners.