Nyamage Primary School Special Unit in Kisii County is looking for assistance as it seeks to include a special unit for children with mental illness in its program.
The unit that has 17 mentally ill children from in and around the village has no single facility set aside to host the children that need special attention.
According to the school’s Head teacher Daniel Matoke, the unit lacks equipment and books to help them rehabilitate the special students.
“The unit has very little resources. We have 17 mentally ill children with one special trained teacher Madam Grace Omagwa. We need some help to be able to make these children comfortable," he said.
The head teacher added that they are committed to ensure proper inclusion of special education in the institution but they are held back due to lack of manpower and resources asking well wishers and both national and county governments to chip in and support the school.
“We seek help in running this project. Both the national and county government and all other stakeholders should come to our help and support the initiative,” he noted.
Touching on the challenges the school go through in supporting the special children, Mr Matoke said it has never been easy.
"These children come from around and are day scholars but getting them here daily is hard as some parents feel ashamed to bring them to school and prefer to hide them,” he added.
He therefore called on the National Council for Persons with Disability (NCPWD) to take action and rescue the children with special needs from the villages where they are being hidden.
Mr Matoke also said they work hand in hand with Kisii Level Six Hospital to carry out regular checks and analyse the children's progress.
“We do regular checkups on these children with doctors from our Level Six hospital and we have identified one child in the unit who also has hearing defects and will be taken to a deaf school,” he concluded.
Nyamage Primary School Special unit started in the year 2012.