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Three million disabled out-of-school children demand better access to learning

By Abosede Musari, Abuja
06 October 2016   |   12:09 am
Three million disabled out-of-school children are demanding better access to education from the Federal Government.Speaking on their behalf in Abuja recently, the Special Assistant to the President on Disabilities, Dr. Samuel Ankeli,...

Disabilities

Three million disabled out-of-school children are demanding better access to education from the Federal Government.Speaking on their behalf in Abuja recently, the Special Assistant to the President on Disabilities, Dr. Samuel Ankeli, said the disabled need better access to education, and scholarships because education is expensive and beyond their reach.

The presidential aide, who was speaking at the just concluded 61st meeting of the National Council on Education (NCE), in Abuja, noted that three million, out-of-the over 10.5m out-of-school children live with disability, and need scholarships to obtain quality education.

Ankeli, himself a visually challenged person, who lamented that there are only a few schools for the blind in the country, urged more of such schools to be established, possibly in the geopolitical zones, for different categories of people with disability. “I was a lecturer before I became blind and was sacked. Please give blind people access to education. We need scholarships because it’s expensive for the disabled to go to school. The resources in this country is for all of us,” he cried.

Speaking earlier, Deputy Governor of Kano State, who doubles as the state commissioner for education, Professor Hafiz Abubakar, commended the minister’s strategic plan for education, which he said took care of Almajiri education in Kano state.

He urged action in the area of implementing the strategic plan, while also calling on the Federal Government to channel resources for implementation
to the state and local government councils as they are the right channels to addressing the challenges of education.

“Kano was given good coverage on the issue of out-of-school children. Quite a number of Almajiris are now being taken care of. We are pleased to see how the plan has taken care of them,” he said.

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