Stakeholders want curriculum on inclusive education modified

Stakeholders who attended the “2019 Train-the-Trainers,” workshop on Special and Inclusive Education for teachers in Lagos State have stressed the need for the reformation of the curriculum to guarantee comprehensive learning to beneficiaries.

In their respective papers, the experts dwelt on best practices for inclusive and special education; effective teaching strategies; classroom management strategies for children with special needs; and nutrition for special needs children.

The workshop was organised by a non-governmental organisation, the Inclusive Education and Individualised Education Plan Centre (IEIEPC), to expose teachers to best practices in Special and Inclusive Education. About 50 teachers drawn from the six education districts of Lagos State, as well as some private schools participated in the one-day training held at the International Press Centre, Lagos.

Director of IEIEPC and convener of the workshop, Mr. Oyeyinka Oluwawumi, who decried the absence of a standard national plan for special and inclusive education, said a modified inclusive curriculum that will guarantee a sound future for the concerned children is imperative.
He said the workshop was part of coordinated public-private efforts to bridge the knowledge gap and improve the capacity and capability of both special education and regular classroom teachers to facilitate the development of potentials of children with special abilities.

“We know that ‘disability is not lack of ability to succeed; it only becomes an inability if necessary tools/aids are not maximized’. It is quite unfortunate that there is no standard plan in most schools in Nigeria, although some consent to be using some timetable. But then, one is obligated to ask what informed the timetable? And if teachers don’t have guides or see good reasons to have a modified curriculum to enable them specially attend to students with disabilities, how on earth do we give these children opportunities to fulfil their dreams and become successful?” Oluwawumi, whose only daughter suffers from disability queried.

A professor of Special Education at the University of Ibadan, Prof. Olufemi Fakolade, called on the participants to recognise the uniqueness and difference in behavioural needs of students in creating effective classroom management strategies.

Speaking on “Nutrition for special needs children,” a nutritionist, Mrs. Ijeoma Ugwu, said, “there is increasing evidence that many children with behavioural problems are sensitive to one or more food components that can negatively impact their behaviour.”She identified those health conditions which nutrition plays important roles in their management to include communication disorder, autism spectrum disorder, down syndrome and learning disorder among others.