By Sani Idris
In furtherance to seeking support from critical stakeholders on ensuring inclusive education for PWDs, the Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPWD), has visited the Kaduna Basic Education Accountability Mechanism (KADBEAM), seeking possible ways of collaboration.
Mr Stephen Waya, JONAPWD’s Programme Officer on Advocacy and Capacity Strengthening for Young Persons With Disabilities, said the visit to KADBEAM was to get their inputs on possible ways towards improving service delivery in the education sector by advocate for inclusive education that protects and provides equal opportunity for all citizens.
He he added that it was also to have organic commitments and solutions to inclusive education in Kaduna State.
“We aim at creating citizens driven process and ownership to support and advocate for inclusive education in Kaduna State,”he said.
Explaining further, Waya said that the overall objective of JONAPWD’s project was to advocate for the implementation of inclusive education provision as contained in Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of PWDs (UNCRPWD).
He said it was also stated in part five of the Nigeria Discrimination Against PWDs (Prohibition) Act, 2018.
“As a specific activity objective, JONAPWD is expected to carry out a cross-country Political Economy Analysis (PEA) on current status of inclusive education across five selected project states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“Specifically, this PEA will aim to broadly give answers to why inclusive education is important, how existing education modules are being currently applicable for PWDs in project states.
“It will also give answers to the apparent gaps, especially on existing budgetary education provisions, workplans, learning environments in providing inclusive and sustainable education modules and the current placements educational stakeholders,” he said.
He said that they would be using the Kaduna State University (KASU) as a pilot tertiary institution to serve as a model for inclusive education for PWDs.
“We want to see if the institution has a policy which encourages inclusiveness and whether their budgetary allocation is addressing inclusive education, among others.
“Where we identify gaps pressing down on agenda of inclusiveness, we will bring in private partners and NGOs to support the initiative, the government alone can not handle it,”Waya said.
Responding, Mr. Aliyu Tijjani, the Co-chair Citizens Group, KADBEAM, said they have been working with PWDs as a Civil Society Organisation.
“There is nothing we do without the PWDs, they know the extend to which we have gone in the area of actualising inclusive education,”he said.
According to him, it was on the course of their activities that the government got to realise PWDs need special things and treatments.
He explained that there are areas that needs special attention for them which he said the state has started addressing.
“Now that is on our shoulder, we must do more, the project has now given us a licence to engage the state more,”Tijjani said.
He urged JONAPWD to spread their tentacles in advocating widely to every stakeholder for the course of inclusive education for PWDs in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that JONAPWD was awarded a grant under the Nigeria Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project.
The project, which is for one year, is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Palladium, through a cooperative agreement with USAID.
The programme is currently run in Kaduna, Bauchi, Ondo, Anambra and Cross river states, including the Federal Capital, Abuja.(NAN)
