HISTORICAL BACKGROUND FOR ST. ODA SCHOOL FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED-ALUOR

The idea of starting a special school to cater for the blind children is like disease was convinced by the then Bishop of Kisumu Diocese the  then Rt. Rev. Fredrick Hall who put a request to the head of the congregation of Franciscan Sisters of Oudenbosch – Holland who in turn responded positively by sending  two of the sisters to the diocese to start the school in February 1961, with Rev. Sr. Isabella the head-teacher and Rev. Sr. Ludgera as her helper.  The school opened its first doors to only sixteen children, nine boys and seven girls.

St. Oda School for the Visually Impaired (SOSSVI) located at 14 acres of land in Gem Sub County, Siaya County, Kenya provides residential elementary, primary, secondary and vocational educational services of ages three (3) to twenty (20) who are visually impaired/blind or deaf/hard of hearing and whose sensory loss is such as to preclude their making normal progress in the regular public school system.  The school has since grown in leaps and bounds.  Previously, it concentrated its efforts to develop the blind, but currently incorporates the Low Vision, person with Albinism, Epilepsy, Autism, intellectually challenged and multi=handicapped. The school operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education being none of the special schools offering primary education for the visually impaired children in the Republic of Kenya.

It receives admission of visually impaired pupils from all over the Republic who need special attention and care.  Currently the main catchment areas include western region, the Rift Valley and a small number from Metropolitan region.  The school follows the regular curriculum offered in the country and additional of Braille and Orientation and Mobility (OM) lessons.  There are 22 buildings providing educational facilities for an elementary school, a primary school, physical education, vocational programs and separate dormitory buildings for elementary and primary students, a learning resource center and various physical plant support and administrative buildings.  Students are served in the natural environment almost resembling their home set up.

BACKGROUND

SOSVIA, Aluor,  is a special public school run by Franciscan Sisters of St. Anna, under the Catholic Arch –Diocese of Kisumu, Kenya.  The school was founded by the missionaries (Franciscan Sisters of St. Anna) in the year 1961.  It is situated in Gem sub County, Siaya County about 450 km from Nairobi Kenya.  It is one of the primary schools in Kenya offering education to the visually impaired children.  It caters for the physical, spiritual, educational, social, emotional, psychological needs for the visually impaired children ranging from three to twenty years of age from Lake Region, Western Region, Rift Valley Region, Metropolitan Region, Aberdares, Eastern Region and East Africa especially Uganda.

The school boost of having produced many young intelligent visually impaired persons who are making positive contributions to the community.  The school follows regular primary school curriculum and co-curriculum activities offered in the country and additional of Braille, Orientation and Mobility lessons.  It has also a vocational training Centre offering courses of the visually impaired, deaf blind, hearing impaired and intellectually impaired young girls and boys.  In 2011 the school started a secondary school section (Nico Hauser Special Secondary School for the Visually Impaired) with a current population of 55 students.  They sat their first national examination   (KCSE) in the year 2014. 

Guided by the principle:  “OPPORTUNITY NOT SYMPATHY”.  Our vision is to be a world class holistic learning Centre for the learners with visually impairment.  We exist to provide holistic learning environment for the learners with visually impairment to facilitate competitive integration with the society. 

The school has 28 teachers, 34 non-teaching staff, 275 children (127 boys and 148 girls) in primary section, 25 in vocational training Centre and 5 deaf blind children as at 2015.