IBRAHIM QUADRI

The Lagos State Office of Disability Affairs (LASODA) on Wednesday warned parents who have children living with disabilities to desist from harbouring their wards at home instead of getting them enrolled in schools.

The Director Monitoring and Evaluation of LASODA, Mr Oguntoye  Oyewole gave the warning during a one-day consultative meeting and partnership building for the advancement of an inclusive education service delivery in Lagos State.

LASODA is an agency of the Lagos State Government created by law in 2011 to safeguard Persons With Disabilities to realize their potentials.

The forum was organized by the Human Development Initiatives, supported by the Disability Rights Fund under the United for Inclusive Education Project in active collaboration with Festus Fajemilo Foundation and The Irede Foundation as coalition members.

One of the basic resolutions at the forum was an oversight on the part of the State government on the exclusion of persons with disabilities in the school governance structure such as the School-based Management Committees.

The forum therefore called on the State Goverment to include persons living with disability in the school governance structure in order to provide more representations for the physically challenged students.

In her welcome address, the HDI Chief Executive Director, Mrs Olufunso Owasanoye said, “It has been a long way coming, the need to shift the collaboration paradigm beyond handshake at meetings such as this to taking ownership and building a united front that will further deepen inclusion in all ramifications.

“The goal of an inclusive society must be reflected in the whole gamut of governance including the governance of education in Nigeria. This is a goal of which all stakeholders in the education sector must take ownership and mainstream into their programmes and activities.

“While we commend the Lagos State Government for taking the lead in introducing innovation into the education sector and transforming the teaching and learning experience of both pupils and teachers, it is important to make the children with disabilities and the marginalised the minimum standard for planning, implementing and evaluating impact in all public services, especially the education sector.”

She added, “It is often said, only the one who wears the shoe knows where it pinches. Critical to the meeting of today is the key question of how we might deepen the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the governance of education, strengthen multi-stakeholder collaboration in the sector and build enduring institutions and practices to achieve the above goal. It has been argued that the journey to full inclusion in the education sector can be hastened by involving the already excluded/marginalised individuals.

“We have observed that the Lagos State Government has been paying attention to persons with disabilities in the deployment and recruitment of personnel both at the administrative and technical levels as well as in the construction of new infrastructure.

“However, we believe that the exclusion of persons with disability in the school governance structure such as the School-based Management Committees is a huge oversight on the part of the Lagos State Government that needs to be corrected. We also need to promote social and behavioral change around disability inclusion.”

Speaking with journalists at the event, Oyewole said, “Lagos State Goverment with the principle of inclusion that leaves no one behind through inclusive schools.”

He explained that, “Part of the reasons why PWD are not in the special schools is that the awareness is not there and the number of inclusive schools is very minimal.

“We have been making noise over this that no parent should keep their children at home. Any parent found in this habit will be dealt with based on the law.”

One of the resource persons, from Department of Education, University of Lagos, Prof Stephen Oyebade said, “When we talk of inclusion, we should not only look for Persons With Disabilities but also children who are specially gifted.”

He believes governments at every level need to do more in terms of inclusion in schools, saying “There are still more rivers to cover in the area of inclusion and equalization of opportunities.”