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special needs education while getting the best out of it .
Of course , I hear the voice at the back of my head questioning whether we have the infrastructure to pull this off . I respond by stating that every child has the right to basic education . This is enshrined right in our well-established constitution . Secondly , almost all the infrastructure needed would be a multi-use installation , thus reducing the direct cost of providing special education . A school that connects to the Internet in this arrangement would use the same Internet access for many other functions . Thus , the connection to the Internet would be couched in a bigger budget , not just the special needs education one .
Kenya is probably one of the best-connected countries in Africa and those areas without commercially viable connections will get access through the Universal Service Fund . We therefore have a base to build on . Our innovators are also highly skilled and talented . They will be able to develop the necessary technologies to assist in this oneroof concept when they get the right prompts from the education sector .
Whereas today this article might seem far-fetched , it is the realization that accessibility issues suffer from a unique cost challenge that helps us to start pushing the proverbial envelope . We must seek to serve all the people affected in a high-density fashion so that we can bring down the unit costs in other areas .
Digital platforms that leverage the Internet do this very well . Combined virtual classes for learners with identified challenges would mean concentrated costs for distributed benefits . If the classes can hold forty students as usual , then the cost per teacher per learner would be normal . If the teachers can teach from wherever they are stationed then we would not have increased logistical costs .
Kenya is probably one of the best-connected countries in Africa and those areas without commercially viable connections will get access through the Universal Service Fund ...
If learners can access these devices at the schools nearest to them then they would not miss out on normal growing up by physically going to far-off specialized schools . Where the schools invest in the associated equipment and connectivity , then these would mean fewer expenses over the long-term with most of it being used for multiple functions . Overall , blended learning and e-learning would deliver education to learners with accessibility issues in a cost structure that compares favorably to that of normal learning while giving out quality that out-matches that by traditional education .
Mr . Waithaka is the CEO Elimu Holdings Ltd .
EdSource Quarterly | Oct-Dec l 2021