Wesley varsity canvasses inclusive education for students with disabilities

• 10% of deaf graduands bag First Class
• IFA seeks inclusive digital literacy for PWDs

Wesley University, Ondo State, has stressed the need for an inclusive education system that will accommodate all forms of students with disabilities.

Vice Chancellor (VC) of the university, Prof. Sunday Obeka, who stated this during a media briefing to herald the 13th convocation of the faith-based institution, said that the university is the only tertiary institution across the country that embodied the inclusive education project.

According to the VC, 10 per cent of the best-graduating students were deaf students, stressing that no fewer than 39 students would be graduating with First Class in the 2023/2024 academic session.

Obeka also said that 230 students would graduate across 45 undergraduate academic programmes being run by the university.

He noted that the institution has a Directorate of Deaf and Special Needs Education, stating that it had empowered the deaf community and employed more deaf scholars.

IN a related vein, the Inclusive Friends Association (IFA), a leading non-profit organisation committed to advancing the rights and inclusion of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in Nigeria, yesterday, reiterated the need for targeted digital literacy skills training for PWDs.

Executive Director of IFA, Grace Jerry, who was represented by the IFA Project Coordinator, Stephen Idoko, disclosed this during the digital literacy and advocacy training for women and girls with disabilities in Abuja.

He added that the university’s management had approved a programme to educate all members of staff and students of the institution that would enable them to communicate with the deaf community of the school.

Obeka stressed further that the institution was also collaborating with Cliff College for its Theological education programme.

He, therefore, appealed to the government to support the medical colleges in private universities in terms of salary payment and provision of infrastructures in tackling the shortage of health workers in the country.