Domestication of international Conventions on the Rights to education by children with disabilities aged 4 - 6yrs in pre - schools in Nairobi C ounty, Kenya: Implications for polic

Abstract

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities children included. When a disabled child gets the opportunity to receive a quality education, “doors are opened”. This enables them to secure other rights throughout their lifetime, fostering better access to jobs, health and other services. Conversely, studies indicate that the estimated 1 billion people who live with a disability face a multitude of barriers to participating equally in society. In particular, children with disabilities (CWD) right to education is often not realized, which in turn hinders their access to other rights and creates colossal obstacles to reaching their potential and effectively participating in their communities. The CWD are more likely to be out of school than any other group of children. Furthermore CWD have very low rates of initial enrolment. Even if they do attend school, CWD are often more likely to drop out and leave school early. In spite of the fact that States have a legal obligation to offer an accessible and inclusive education to all learners this potential has not yet been fully realized. Thus the study assesses domestication of international Conventions on the Rights to education by CWD aged 4-6yrs in pre-schools in Nairobi county, Kenya: Implications for policy discourse. In its methodology the study uses structured interview schedule, questionnaires, and observation guide as data collection instruments. Likewise it employed an evaluation design to gather data. The targeted population was 20 head teachers, 48 teachers, 28 CWD aged 4-9 years and 14 parents. Simple random sampling was employed. Analysis was obtained through editing, coding, classifying and tabulation. Findings revealed that CWD form a significant proportion of the out-of-school population and their right to education is too often violated. The study recommends proper policies and effective remedies in case of violations of the rights of CWD and ensures that these remedies are accessible to all CWD, families and schools.