Maseno School for the Deaf

A residential primary school offering education for deaf and hearing impaired children in rural Western Kenya.

Supported by CBM since 1980, this residential primary school for hearing impaired children provides education to over 200 students with 22 teachers and 35 support staff.

The project uses a holistic approach to learning and teaching which includes the families of the children, with the aim of achieving improvement in the attitudes towards deaf children within the wider social community.

The schoolchildren learn from a syllabus that includes Kenyan sign language to National Examination standard; vocational training programmes in carpentry and tailoring, both which are tested using the Government Trade Test; plus animal husbandry and gardening.

The school has developed a vegetable farm, which has become so successful that it now supplies the school's kitchen. This has the added benefit of improving the children's general health and nutrition, which in turn improves their learning ability.

The school also supports sport, with students participating to a national standard.

CBM has sponsored educational workshops for the staff; provided funds to maintain a school bus; enabled the purchase of a back-up generator; ensured that the stoves have been repaired when required; facilitated the purchase of additional tools for the vocational courses; and has enabled the school to provide subsidies for the needs of the children of poorer families.