Stakeholders Advocate for Integrated Education for Children with Disabilities

Folalumi Alaran in Abuja

Stakeholders have recently called for the discontinuation of special schools for children with disabilities.

They emphasized the importance of promoting inclusive education within mainstream settings, ensuring equal learning opportunities for everyone.

They made the call during the culmination of the Support Mainstreaming Inclusion so all can Learn Equally (SMILE) project’s closing meeting in Abuja.

The Country Director of Sightsavers Nigeria and Ghana, Dr. Sunday Isiyaku, conveyed that reshaping schools to embrace inclusivity stands to ignite a cascading effect that nurtures the well-being and holistic integration of all learners.

This transformative approach holds the promise of ensuring that People with Disabilities (PWDs) are no longer relegated to the sidelines of quality education access.

Central to this endeavor is the imperative to fortify educational systems through policy reform that champions inclusivity.

Isiyaku further called to empower educators with the tools and training required to meaningfully engage students, particularly those with special needs.

He said, “ At the crux of this movement lies the SMILE project, initially piloted in select schools within the Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

“The project aims at ensuring that children with disabilities can go to normal schools.
“The general idea is to have children with disabilities go to special schools, but the reality of life is that they attend special schools, but outside these schools they face challenges in terms of integration with communities.

“So, this project is saying that normally most parents, who have children with disabilities are concerned that the child cannot get adequate education.

“So, what we are aiming to say is that a child can have a good inclusive education and what the project has done is to make the parents aware and to send their children to school.
“Let’s make sure that teachers are trained to teach children with disabilities, so that they can learn and communicate with their peers in school,” he said.

The Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, Mr. James Lalu, passionately echoed the urgency to expedite inclusive education.

He emphasized that current statistics reveal a distressing reality, with over 50 percent of Nigeria’s 10.5 million out-of-school children constituting those with disabilities.

Highlighting the staggering number, he noted that approximately 95 percent of children with disabilities remain excluded from formal education, a statistic that yearns for transformation.
He added, “ The sentiment is clear: children with disabilities aspire to the same heights as their peers, envisioning futures as professionals, leaders, and even presidents.

In line with this vision, the Deputy Director of Special Needs at the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Aisue-Dion Akhere, disclosed that the Federal Government is actively revisiting policies to anchor the principles of inclusive education at every echelon of the education system.