The VP Offers Insight Bure

Nationmedia.com | Daily Nation | NEWS | Sh80m survey to gather data on the disabled launched: "The Vice-President, Mr Moody Awori, who officially launched the exercise at Bontana Hotel in Nakuru, said many of the disabled cases had not been able to fully take advantage of the free education because they lack hearing devices." (emphasis mine)

Now, in case you ever become vice president and find yourself talking about "disability," I thought I would give you all some pointers so you don't a) seem unaware of the issues and b) annoy people who are.

1. Not all disabled people are deaf or hard-of-hearing. I'm not even sure it's fair to say that most are. The fact that no one really knows roughly how many disabled people there are, let alone deaf vs. non-deaf, makes this an important study.

[Update: I'm not exactly sure if Awori means to imply that most of the "disabled cases" are deaf students or if most of the "disabled cases" that have failed to take advantage of the free education are deaf students. I'm skeptical on both claims.]

2. Not all deaf/hard-of-hearing people benefit from "hearing devices." People become deaf for different reasons. Some deaf can benefit from receiving amplified sound, others benefit from receiving electrical impulses to auditory nerves inside the cochlea. Others are just plain deaf.

3. Even those who benefit from devices like cochlear implants or hearing aids (see links above) will likely still need to learn a signed language (in Kenya's case, KSL). Sticking a deaf kid with a hearing aid in a hearing classroom will definitely boost attendance of deaf children in schools, but brings with it a whole host of problems.

4. Deaf kids aren't benefiting as much as their hearing counterparts from the government's free primary education because.... the deaf schools (residential programs) are not free! The government program does not cover boarding schools.

And, on this point, I'd like us all pause for a brief Swahili lesson: bure.

This word conveys two different concepts.

Concept #1: Serikali hii imesaidia wananchi kwa kuanzisha elimu bure kwa shule za msingi.

English Translation: This government has helped the citizens by starting free primary education.

Meaning of Bure: Free


Concept #2: Ubaya wake, lakini, ni kwamba hii elimu ni bure!

English Translation: The bad thing about it, though, is that this education is useless!

Meaning of Bure: Useless


I like that bure means both of those things. It takes you down the same path as "There's no such thing as a free lunch." If it is free, it's probably useless.

Seeing free primary education in a hearing school with 1,500 students and 20 teachers, I saw elimu bure.

For many deaf children, the government's promise of elimu bure has been just that, elimu bure.

[Update 2: It occurs to me that I say "useless education" when what I really mean is useless "free education."]

[Update 3: A nod to Kyle for the advice on making the distinction between "sign language" and "signed languages." There is no one "sign language", there are different "signed languages" that share features as a result of being signed and not spoken. To wit, saying "speech language" implies it is one, "spoken languages" acknowledges there are many.]