The Federal Government says it is committed to promoting inclusive education in Nigeria to ensure that the goal of basic education for all is achieved in all ramifications.
The executive secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi bared the mind of the Federal Government on this during the training workshop for 1,878 selected teachers on Inclusive Education Delivery Process programme for the South-South zone of the century, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital.
In his address at the event, which took place simultaneously at three different venues in the state capital including the Conference Hall of Uranus Hotel and Suites, Aka Itiam, Bobboyi said that the commission is pursuing the expansion of access to quality basic education for children of school age, with special attention to children who could easily miss school due to some forms of challenges.
“The drive towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 4, which enjoins all signatory countries to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030”, puts additional pressure on education providers to do more in the area of special needs education.
“Since the commencement of the implementation of the universal basic education programme in Nigeria, adequate attention has always been paid to special needs education. For example, 2 percent of the Federal Government consolidated revenue fund dedicated as intervention fund for implementation of the UBE programme has been allocated to Special Needs Education,” he noted.
He said to meet these needs, the commission had always collaborated with private providers of special needs education, who he noted have played a leading role in that area, adding that the presence of the government has increased in the establishment and provision of special needs education in the last few decades.
“Of the 1,019 special basic schools captured during the INEC 2022/2023 National Personnel Audit, Government Schools were 515, with an enrollment of 124,867 learners in basic education. There were 504 private special schools, with an enrollment of 51,140 learners,” Bobboyi stressed.
Noting that some of the private providers are non fee paying, he said their efforts are recognised by the government, making it possible for them to access support funds from the Federal Government’s UBE Intervention Fund.
The Executive Secretary mentioned that the commission had procured assistive technologies beneficial to special needs learners, according to their unique disabilities and their schools.
Such assistive technologies, according to him, include braille machines, crutches, wheel chairs, learning materials for autistic children and digital materials even as such intervention will continue so that more learners can be assisted to access quality education.
He said the workshop was necessary to build the capacity of basic education teachers to be able to address the peculiar challenges of special needs children.
The executive secretary explained further that,”the commission conducted needs assessment in 2023, which revealed wide gap in teachers’ knowledge and skills in dealing with learners with mixed abilities in the same school, early detection of learners’ form of disabilities, remedial actions to take, where cases can be referred to for further attention and developing affective attitude in the teachers and learners to be empathic and accommodating towards other members of the school community, irrespective of their physical background.
The purpose of the training is to close the gap and ensure that inclusive education becomes an integral part of the school’s features.”
In her remarks at the occasion, the director of Special Programme, UBEC, Dr Hajia, Aisha Abdul, lauded the commission for building capacity for another 1,878 teachers comprising of 50 selected teachers from 25 conventional schools and 2 selected from 14 currently operational SMART schools on inclusive education implementation process nationwide.
To achieve this, she noted that the commission had developed an inclusive training manual containing distinct and relevant items in 10 modules for capacity building of teachers in the country.
She hinted that there will be follow up mentoring programmes to enable the teachers to apply the content theoretically learnt in their individual schools.
