be provided to the nomadic communities in disregard of their spiritual, social, security, moral and other developmental concerns. Policy on adult and continuing education 192. The Government of Kenya places Adult Learning and Education (ALE) on its development agenda as part of the country’s general policy of bringing about accelerated and sustainable socio-economic development. It recognises the important role played by ALE in maximizing the human resource potential. This commitment is evident in various legislative and policy documents. 193. Kenya has also developed a Special Needs Education Policy. Special Needs Education is a crucial subsector for accelerating the attainment of Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals. Special education has for a long time been provided in special schools or units attached to regular schools and, more recently, at inclusive settings in regular schools. However, the schools and units only cater for children with special needs in hearing, visual, mental or physical challenge. Excluded from the programmes are children with other needs; the gifted and talented, psycho-socially different, autistic, multiple-handicapped and with learning difficulties and communication disorders. 194. A national policy is in the pipeline intended to define all special needs and design programmes to enhance their inclusion in education. In addition, the Kenya Institute of Special Education has been restructured and strengthened to train special education teachers in autism, communicative disorders and multiple handicaps. 195. The Government, through the Ministry of State for Development, through Sessional Paper No. 8 of 2012 on National Policy for the Sustainable Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands, referred to as arid and semi- arid lands (ASALS) commits to the introduction of flexible education systems of high quality which are responsive to the needs of the area and which reinforce traditional knowledge systems in pastoral societies; promote the use of appropriate ICT and other technologies in service delivery; revise the Education Act to incorporate alternative ways of providing education services to nomadic communities such as distance and mobile education and establish the National Council on Nomadic Education. While appreciating the challenges posed by Northern Kenya and other Arid areas, the Government is committed to spearheading Policy Interventions including: improved infrastructure for education and training at all levels including the tertiary level; increasing the number of trained professionals and develop a mechanism to attract and retain high calibre officers; introduce affirmative action programmes for people from North Eastern and other arid areas especially women to all public institutions; target a percentage of bursaries for students from North Eastern and other arid areas who wish to pursue tertiary and university education; expand adult literacy levels and use education to reduce inequalities experienced by certain social groups. This then means that the ASALS get equal opportunities to engage in gainful satisfying and productive employment as encapsulated in Vision 2030. 44