Thousands of physically-challenged children across the country are at risk of missing out on education, as many of the government-run special schools supposed to meet their educational needs are on the verge of collapse.

The schools, which were specifically built for persons with physical challenges, including Down Syndrome, have received N10.6 billion grant from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) within a period of 10 years but have little or nothing on ground to show for it.

A document made available to The AUTHORITY by UBEC, and signed by its Director of Social Mobilisation, Bello Kagara, shows that the Commission disbursed over N10 billion to the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) between 2006 and 2016 to support special education, with private providers receiving a significant chunk of N3.06 billion of the money.

According to UBEC, the special education fund is two percent of its consolidated revenue from the federation account, and it is disbursed annually to provide infrastructures such as classrooms, boreholes, instructional materials, teaching aids and other deliverables in schools for those with disabilities.

The fund is different from the 50 per cent matching grant released to states to support the basic education sub-sector, where UBEC has disbursed over N300 billion as of August 21, 2017.

A recent visit to some of the special education schools located in the Federal Capital Territory, Nasarawa, Edo and Anambra states revealed a sordid state of affairs. Apart from the commonly identified problems of students not living in decent condition and lacking access to health services or proper feeding, most of the schools’ structures could easily be mistaken for abandoned homes left behind by the nation’s former colonial masters.

In one of the schools, Special School for Physically Challenged, Umuchu, Anambra State, there were no good structures. The only major proofs of the presence of a school were a dusty signboard and obsolete blackboards hanging on dilapidated open rooms that serve as classrooms.

Investigations further revealed that both the mentally retarded students and the deaf and dumb are forced to share same dilapidated dormitory in the school due to the absence of other structures to serve that purpose, thereby exposing them not only to the risk of missing out from the desired education but also at the danger of not being properly protected from neglect and abuse.

Other special needs schools visited, which have a semblance of good structures, are battling with the challenges of lack of teaching aids, adequate teachers and other facilities required to provide education to handicapped students.

School for the Blind, Deaf and Dumb, Isulo, Anambra State, which parades a number of beautiful structures, is one of the schools battling with lack of facilities to meet the special educational needs of the children.

According to Felix Nwaochi, President-General of Isulo Community, the school is seriously in need of water supply as many of the blind students have to fetch water from a stream to survive in the school.

“The school does not have water. The students go to the stream to fetch water. The road leading to the stream is not good; they need assistance to make that road good because there is erosion gully (on that road), and some of those blind students fall inside when they want to fetch water,” he lamented in an emotion-laden voice.

Nwaochi, who commended the efforts of Willie Obiano, the state governor, in revamping the school, however, called for assistance from well-spirited persons to support the handicapped school as government alone cannot meet its needs.

“They are expanding the school and they have converted it to secondary level …but if you go to that school you will see that it is still not conducive to a relaxed atmosphere for blind people. If that place is landscaped, it would have been better because they (students) used to fall indiscriminately in that school. The teachers are supposed to live in the school to take care of the students, but they don’t have accommodation. They don’t have sufficient funds to feed the students too. They don’t have playing field; they don’t have equipment like Braille that they are supposed to have for learning. Their Braille and typewriters are obsolete.”

Kate Omenugha, a Professor and Anambra State Commissioner for Education, who bared her mind on the development, admitted some of the challenges but insisted that the state government was doing everything possible to gradually meet the needs.

“We don’t play with physically-challenged people,” she said.

“What we are doing is a gradual development. If you saw the state of Isulo before the development, you would not believe it. We are also coming to that of Umuchu; it is in phases and we have already started with the construction of one new structure.

“We have sunk a bore hole for them too. Our dream is to move the mentally retarded people to Isulo because that is why we have so many structures there. So the big picture is to move the mentally retarded people to Isulo. If we restructure the one in Umuchu, we will leave it for the old people because they currently mix, old and young people.”

READ MORE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/investigation-schools-for-the-physically-challenged-in-ruins-despite-n10-6bn-ubec-grant/

May it not be well for the public officials who stole from people that life has stolen from (physically challenged)