Top learners will be converging to Eldoret starting from tomorrow for the Special Needs Education (SNE) national sports championships at the Eldoret’s Hill School.
The four day championships will see the SNE sports will be competing in three ball games events: football, volleyball, handball and netball in both boys and girls from the eight regions.
Rift Valley SNE Organizing Secretary Lizz Chesiyna said that they are ready to host the big number of students as they seek to expose them to various sporting disciplines.
“This is an opportunity for such students to expose their talents to the world. In such sporting events, we give them a chance to mingle from other regions of the country and share good moments from the rest of Kenya,” said Chesiyna.
The hosts on Wednesday selected a total of 80 students that will fly the region’s flag at the championships as the hosts.
According to Chesiywa, 20 learners will be selected from the physically challenged, hearing impaired, visual impaired and mentally challenged to represent the larger region.
“We have selected a formidable team that will be flying our flag with hopes that they will represent us well. We started the championships from the sub-county level, to the county then now to the regions in readiness for the national championships,” said Chesiyna.
Chesiyna, who also serves as the national secretary for Physically Impaired Learners (P.I) also explained that a team of 14 deaf and blind will directly qualify for the national championships.
“Apart from the deaf and blind, six learners with autism will earn a direct ticket for the nationals,” said Chesiyna.
“Through such games, the learners are able to expose their talents, creating awareness, cohesion and integration,” she added.
However, with such success, she explained that with the championships hours away, she said that they face challenges of facilities like running wheelchairs and showdown tables for visually impaired.
The championships will be staged in various institutions across Eldoret. For the hearing impaired, the championships will be held at Hill school Eldoret, mentally challenged, for primary only will be held at Paul Boit secondary and Physically impaired will be held at Ilula Integrated school.