Expert Seeks Funding Of Special Schools

An Educationist, Mr Solomon Odemona, last Thursday urged the three tiers of government to increase funding of schools for physically challenged children.

Odemona, the President, Education Reformers’ Association of Nigeria, told  newsmen in Lagos that inclusive education was not being properly funded.

He claimed that there was a difference in the quality of education for the physically fit and the physically challenged in the country.

UNESCO, Bangkok, in its online publication, says, “Inclusive education should be viewed in terms of including traditionally excluded or marginalised groups or making the invisible visible.

“The most marginalised groups are often invisible in society: disabled children, girls, children in remote villages and the very poor.

Odemona said that Nigeria had not done well in inclusive education ‘because there is a pronounced segregation due to the disability of these categories of people’.

“Having an inclusive education within a formal school may not be too possible, because naturally, children themselves will segregate. What we can do is to ensure we have enough special schools for these children: special schools for the blind, deaf and for other disabilities,” he said.

He advised that special schools should not be segregated within a geographical area, saying that it would not be in the best interest of physically challenged children.

Odemona urged governments to establish more of such special schools and strengthen the existing ones.

“We don’t have enough inclusive schools, looking at the number of children with disability.

“In the whole of Lagos State, how many schools do we have? What we have is not enough, and that is because we are profit-conscious,” he noted adding that “we must do this with all sense of responsibility, knowing that it is not their making to be disabled. They should not, in any way, be second-rated.

“The physically challenged, he said are human beings; who have souls and future, and can contribute to the development of the country.

“It is very unfortunate that in Nigeria today, we are very conscious of money; no proprietor or investor wants to put his money in a special school,“ he said.

The educationist said that the federal, state and local governments should provide more funds and support for special schools.

“Individuals in the society need to be enlightened so that they can also see how they can reach out to disabled children in the society,” he advised.