By Felix Khanoba
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has expressed its readiness to deploy assistive technology and instructional materials to meet the learning needs of all categories of children with special needs.
Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Hamid Boboyi, made this known at a two-day interactive meeting of the Department of Special Programmes with State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) Special Education desk officers in Abuja.
While saying the ultimate goal of the meeting was to ensure that learning needs of all categories of children with special needs are adequately catered for, Bobboyi called on experts to come up with detailed needs assessment that contains all information on the initiative as well as appropriate submissions for proper follow up in states across the country.
Speaking further, the UBEC boss said with the right attitude and commitment, the initiative can be executed with a high degree of outcome to meet the socio-economic development of the country and in line with the international standards of education that would make Nigeria and Nigerian children equal among their peers.
The Executive Secretary revealed that for a clearer understanding of the principles of inclusive education in terms of whole-school planning, technical experts have been carefully selected to kick start the programme.
According to Bobboyi, effective inclusive education system would bring about implementation of individualized education opportunities for different categories of children with disabilities, provide a common learning environment for all learners and present a clear vision and well stated mission geared towards achieving exceptional learning performance.
He challenged participants at the meeting to put in the right attitude to work in consideration of the future of the children, particularly those with special needs to bring out the required report that will achieve the objectives of the national assignment.
The AUTHORITY reports that between 93 – 150 million children are said to be struggling with different categories of disabilities across the world, with the 2018 National Personnel Audit putting the number of such children in the country at 189,070.
