“A lot of the parents of students with disabilities (blind students) that we are working with in King’s College and Queen’s College, Lagos State live in extreme poverty. They dread each school term, yet they know than an education would give their children a foot in the doorway of life”
The Executive Director of Centre for Youth Studies (CYS), Seyi Sanjo Bankole explained that they discovered the challenges of these students during their life skills training programmes for these students with disabilities.
CYS sought and received donations for the tuition fees of 6 of these special-needs students including the WAEC fees for 2 students and arrears owed by 3.
It is heart-wrenching watching these parents who struggle to eke out a living and are barely able to feed their families, strive to write out different outcomes for their children who are also living with the limitations of their disability in an environment where discrimination and stigmatization abound.
The needs of these students are enormous but the Government can help them by creating an enabling environment for truly inclusive education via welfare policies that empower the poor who are ready to work and grants for the education of indigent students with disabilities.
