Education is a key driver of change and transforms lives. Nelson Mandela rightly called education “the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Education remains to be at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals. We need education to reduce inequalities and improve health. We need education to achieve gender equality and eliminate poverty. We need education to protect our planet’s resources. And we need education to fight all forms of discrimination and intolerance.

DESK Offers skills training to Teachers and Education stakeholders to promote an understanding of Deaf education, and gives practical strategies to manage Deaf learners

In realization of this, DESK has a unique focus on Deaf education or access to education for Deaf children and youth by promoting and supporting positive models of inclusive education in Deaf schools, preschools, and other centers of learning in the county where the need arises. DESK offers skills training to teachers in schools for the Deaf, and education stakeholders to promote an understanding of Deaf education, provide tools to identify barriers to learning and give practical strategies to manage Deaf learners in the classroom as a way of promoting reasonable accommodation in learning institutions of all levels.

DESK has been working with various schools for the Deaf for several years now and has established excellent relationships with Deaf children, parents, communities, and schools, as well as education and health officials at district and national levels. This experience, together with expertise developed over many years in this field, and research findings from our own and third-party projects lead us to believe that improving information collection and sharing tools and systems would have a significant impact on enrollment, retention, and academic performance amongst primary-level children with deafness.

By creating systemic change and laying the foundations for capacity-building of education officials as well as teachers and school managers in the field of education of the Deaf, the outcomes of Inclusive Education projects will be sustainable in the long term. All stakeholders have over the years indicated their willingness to work with DESK, and as all work is being done in conjunction with duty-bearers and future implementer, there will be a strong sense of ownership.