One of the leading NGO focusing on support for children with disabilities especially those with limb loss, The IREDE Foundation (TIF) has called on government to improve its inclusive budgeting and implementation of National Policy On Inclusive Education.
The Executive Director of The Irede Foundation, Mrs Crystal Chigbu made this call on Thursday at a Town hall Meeting on Mainstreaming Disability-Inclusive Budgeting for Children with Disabilities in Abuja.
Chigbu said that it has become important to remind government on the need to expedite action in the implementation of their numerous policies and laws on PWDs in Nigeria, make fiscal provisions like budgetary allocation to aid the operationalization of the policies and laws at all level of government.
“Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) still go through a lot of discrimination, stigmatization and marginalisation among others even in the budget process”.
She informed that Irede Foundation carried out a survey two years ago and found out that there was no budget allocation for education of children with disabilities which means that there is no plan or inclusion of children with disabilities in education.
“So, you find out that a lot of children with disabilities stay back home because they are not able to go to school, even those that want to go to the inclusive schools their houses are probably very far away from the schools”.
There are no learning materials provided for them, and there is no provisions for the training of teachers to deliver effectively for Children with Disabilities which means they are being left behind.
Chigbu stated that it is because of the gaps that this project was put place to draw the attention the government.
“This is so that going forward, we can start to have the education of children with disabilities being budgeted for because we know if its been budgeted for then we have the likelihood to have it implemented.’’
“Irede Foundation inspires actions so that child amputees and their families would live an independent and limitless life and advocate for the full implementation of inclusive education legal frameworks at all levels”.
“Inclusive education is not just a mere concept but a core of the foundation, it is our belief that children with disabilities should have equal access to quality education within mainstream schools, alongside their peers without disability”.
She stated that an inclusive environment will foster empathy, compassion, and understanding among children, which ultimately creates a more inclusive society.
“Inclusive education does not only improve academic outcomes, but also enhances social skills, self-esteem, and overall well-being of that child.
“When we embrace inclusive education, we are paving the way for a future where children with disabilities can lead independent and self-sufficient lives,’’she said.
Chigbu said that the town hall meeting brought together different stakeholders from the organisations of persons with disabilities, parents, policy makers, people who can in one way or the other affect decisions at the national and state levels.
This, she said was to ensure quality access to education for children with disabilities.
Mrs Angela Ajala ,TIF, Board Member and Education Expert ,said that inclusive education was not just about providing equal access, it was about fostering inclusive minds that celebrate diversity and embrace collaboration.
Ajala said that prioritising disability-inclusive budgeting would empower schools and educators to provide tailored support and resources to children with disabilities, ensuring that no one was left behind.
She said that the town hall meeting provided an excellent opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences and reflect on how best to design and implement effective and sustainable collaborative practices toward inclusive education for children with disabilities.
“Together, we have made substantial progress in mainstreaming disability-inclusive budgeting for children with disabilities. However, our journey is far from over.
“Let us reawaken our collaborative spirit, for it is through our collective efforts that we can truly make inclusive education a reality for every child. But we cannot stop here.
Let us reawaken our determination to make inclusive education a budgetary priority.’’
Mr Theophilus Odaudu, the Programme Manager, West Africa, Disability Rights Fund (DRF), said DRF provides support to organisations of PWDs across the group look to advance disability rights .
Odaudu said the support to the project by Irede Foundation for children with disabilities was hinged upon the principle of `leaving no one behind and not in for us without us’.
“As an organisation, we support persons with disabilities or provide even more support to those who are marginalised among the community like children with disability, whose voices are hardly heard.
So, this project is meant to project the needs of children with disabilities, to advance their rights and to call for more budgetary allocation to ensure that issues that has to do with children with disabilities are not left behind.’’
Odaudu said that Nigeria has a lot of policies and laws on paper but the challenge lied with implementation.
He, therefore, called on ogranisations to continue the advocacy to ensure that policies where not just on paper but implemented.
He also called for increased budgetary allocation, accountability and monitoring to see how it could be well channeled to ensure that children with disabilities benefited from it.
The highpoint of the event is the panel sessions which featured experts in the field of disability inclusion.
The panelists were seasoned disability rights Advocates such as Ms. Nike Akinbola (NCPWD), Mr. Amara Nwankpa (Shehu Musa Yaradua Foundation), Amb. Jake Epelle (CEO, TAF Africa) and Ms. Tsema Ede (Lawyer & Project Manager, Human Rights Org).
They gave more insight on the need for Inclusive Budgeting towards inclusive education.
They also stated the role of different stakeholders, reviewing strategies and models in Implementation of inclusive education, challenges towards the advocacy for budgetary allocation for inclusive education and possible interventions by OPDs and CSOs towards promoting inclusive education.
Townhall meeting also witnessed a breakout session into two groups for participants to develop news ideas and strategies to further promoting inclusive budgeting and inclusive education policy.
Group 1 focused on making the 2024 budget more inclusive while Group 2 worked on ways to improve the implementation of inclusive education policies.
Mr. Donald Ikenna moderated the “Communique and recommendation development” session with two groups.
