“OPEN THE WORLD FOR A CHILD WITH A DISABILITY” Liliane Fond, HVCF Appeals
The
fate of educationally challenged and medically retarded children in the society,
has remained a huge source of concern to parents and stakeholders following yet
to be identified reasons from government at both state and federal levels, in Nigeria.
This
was the revelation on Thursday, 18th March, 2020 in Chukun Local
Government Council of Kaduna state when stakeholders and parents of children
with such challenges met recently during the World Disability Day to sensitize
and draw awareness to the plight of these category of Nigerians ans seek for
support from well meaning individuals and corporate organizations.
The
“We Ring The Bell” event, organized by LILIANE FONDS Foundation, is in
collaboration with Hope for the Village Child Foundation, HVCF and this has
become an annual activity to help create the right awareness on children with
disabilities.
In
celebrating its ‘40 Years’ anniversary, ‘Liliane Fond’ believes that there is
the need to “Open The World For A Child
With Disability” under its theme; “Chose Not To Place ‘Dis’ In My Ability”.
Participants
at the event which include parents and stakeholders, have expressed concerns
over the increasing rate of intellectually challenged children in the society
even as they queried the lack of government’s interest towards addressing the
situation, especially the position of the Kaduna state government.
According
to one of the parents at the event, the rate of discrimination by proprietors
of schools in the state have continued to be a huge cause for concern in terms
of their inability to ensure the admission of their education into schools.
“Our
children have been turned away by schools in the state and what is even more of
concern is that the Kaduna state government has absolutely no plan for the
education of our children. Yes, we know that these children have educational
challenges and have retardation medically but then, they are also citizens of
this country and deserve some level of intervention in terms of their education”,
he stated.
However,
while speaking on the sidelines, an official from the state government who
preferred to be anonymous acknowledged that having such category of children is
indeed a burdensome task for any parent.
According
to him, “I understand your pains as parents and it requires grace of God to be
able to contend with this situation but, Government alone cannot do this. My joy
however remains that, with or without government, many parents have been able to
carry the burden on their own”, he stated.
“For
now, there is no plan by the state government to assist these categories of children
with ‘special needs’ as the focus of the government for now is on the
physically impaired; deaf and dumb and the physically disabled children in the
society following the establishment of the Kaduna state Special Education
Schools”.
He
enjoined parents to “continue to look up to God Almighty and continue with your
efforts as I believe that succor shall come your way”.
Stakeholders
therefore appealed to the Kaduna state government under the leadership of His
Excellency, Mallam Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai, a man reputed to genuinely, appreciate
the true values of education of the child to immediately put in place, schools
that will cater for the ‘Special Needs and Education’ of these challenged children.
An
educational expert at the event implored government and well meaning Nigerians in
the region to establish educational centres that will cater for this children
with intellectual challenges and are also medically retarded otherwise referred
to as ‘Children with Special Needs’.
According
to the expert, “due to the low number of teaching staff and personnel for
Medically Retarded children, it is going to be a huge challenge to provide
quality attention to this category of children as they will require ‘speech therapy
specialists’ who are educable and trainable”.
Speaking
with Naij News Alert, Mr. Michael ‘Baba Yara’ Ogundele whose contributions,
alongside the team at the Hope for the Village Child Foundation have impacted
greatly on the lives of the children with ‘Special Needs’, appealed for support
for the parents of children with disabilities as they are equally humans like
any other human being, created by God.
“Given
the opportunity, these children can become useful to the society”, Ogundele
stated.
Hope
for the Village Child Foundation, HVCF has continued to remain undaunted in
ensuring that it caters to the needs for these categories of children within its
meager resources in spite of the huge financial burden this has caused its
operations and it is therefore, appealing for support and sponsorship from
concerned stakeholders.
//End//
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