• P.O BOX 194-40222, Oyugis
  • info@sikriblinddeaf.ac.ke
  • +254-745-323-274
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HISTORY

The Sikri Technical and Vocational College for the blind and deaf is situated along the main Kisumu – Oyugis – Kisii highway, 6km before Oyugis town in Kachieng Sub location, East Kamagak Location, Kasipul constituency, Rachuonyo South Sub-County Homabay County. The college sits on a 34-acre piece of land. The area generally experiences high rainfall conducive for agricultural practice. The College was started in 1970 by the CMM brothers of Tilburg under the Kisii Catholic Diocese as Vocational Training Centre for the Blind and Deaf- Sikri, to offer practical agriculture skills training for trainees from humble backgrounds who were visually impaired (VI). At its inception on 5/2/1970, six pioneer trainees were admitted; in January 1971 a further six more trainees joined the programme. In 1975, the College population dropped drastically despite numerous awareness campaigns being conducted by the College administration which prompted the administration in consultation with the Ministry of Education to admit hearing impaired (HI) students. A total of fifteen (15) HI students were admitted to undertake a four-year agricultural course at the centre. In 1980, a sign language specialist was invited from Holland to train basic sign language. This led to the development of a sign language dictionary to be used in the College at a time when the government emphasized oralism as opposed to using sign language as a medium of instruction in public special colleges and no dictionary existed on Kenyan Sign Language (K.S.L). In 1987, a wood and weaving workshops were constructed and in 1988 two workshops were equipped with teaching/learning resources. Consequently, Carpentry/joinery and weaving /clothing and textile were introduced. These courses were to strengthen the general agriculture which was the main course as it required maintenance of farm structures, buildings and clothing. Right from inception, the College has provided rehabilitation to visually impaired students in, Braille literacy, Orientation and Mobility (O & M), Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and communication skills. In view of this, the college has an established Braille press for the production of Braille materials. In 1999 the rehabilitation department was instrumental in the rehabilitation of 1998 bomb blast survivors. It is important to note that the College provides training to students across the East and Central Africa region and has been the only training centre in the region with the blind, deaf and deafblind students all in one Institution undertaking agriculture course. The College provides relevant livelihood skills training to persons with disabilities. This training ensures that the trainees are equipped with the necessary skills to enable them to compete favorably in the job market or establish their livelihood activities. The trainees are therefore empowered, in income generation, independence, transition and social integration. The college admitted the first group of female trainees in the year 2016 In April 2018, the college changed from a vocational training center to a Technical and Vocational College offering Technical and Business courses. With the integration of Technical and Vocational training, reverse integration of Regular students was introduced at 30% of the total population.