The federal government and all stakeholders in the education sector have been urged to show more committment to the education of Persons With Disabilities (PWD’s) by ensuring that they acquire standard education.
This was the outcome on discussion at a 4 days workshop organised by the Network of Disabled Women (NDW) with support from of government of Canada and ActionAid Nigeria tagged: “Training of Facilitators and NDW/WVL Project Staff for the Establishment of Girls Mentorship Clubs for Selected Secondary Schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
One of the Resource Persons, the Executive Director Comprehensive Autism and Related Disabilities and Educational Training (CARDET) Academy Lola Aneke, in presentation expressed worry at the increasing rate of violence against children in the country.
Aneke lauded the training the trainers workshop, saying “teachers are children’s second parents and have a great role in bringing up children who are well behaved, less violent and more caring for each other.”
She stressed on the need for improving the education of the girl child particularly those with disability.
“Education system for people with disability is poor, the school curriculum is outdated and needs to be updated, there is no condusive learning environment, sanitation, resources for learning, technology, and there is the need for constant equipping and training of teachers to provide quality education to people with disability especially the young girls.
“There is so much to be done when it comes to assessing education for young girls with disabilities in Nigeria and all hands must be on deck if we must achieve any improvement,” she stressed.
Similarly, another Resource Person, Edidiong Idang, in her paper presentation said the importance of girl child education to the rapid development of any nation cannot be overemphasized.
According to Idang, of the 163million illiterate youths accross the globe about 63% are females, stressing that offering children education will prop up literacy levels and push up development in struggling regions, curb human trafficking, improve women’s political participation, helps girls makes informed choices on sex life amongst others.
“A girl who completes her primary education is three times less likely to attract HIV, an educated girl is a potential income earner and education reduces poverty.
She however, regretted that the system is faced with lots of challenges, stressing the need for a revamp of the sector, stressing that the main purpose of school is to provide for the fullest possible Development of each learner for living morally, creatively and productively in a democratic society.
A participant, Tafi Festus, who is a teacher at Junior Secondary school (JSS) Kwali, stressed the need for peer tutoring which he said is the pairing of the weak and strong students to enable weak to pick from the strong if quality education must be achieved for all.
Another participant and host, Safe School Initiative at Government Secondary School (GSS) Like, Fatima Mohammed, stressed the importance of education for the GirlChild with disability, saying this will enable them demand their rights as well as make informed decisions about their lives.
