The British Council has called on the federal government to ensure the prioritisation of inclusive education to cater for special needs children in the country.

The council’s director of programmes, Chikodi Onyeremela, made the call in Abuja on Tuesday at the council’s ‘Annual Inclusive Education Conference’.

Mr Onyeremela said prioritising inclusive education would help provide equal opportunities and platforms for everyone to thrive. He said it would also provide for the diversification of opportunities and pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Nations across the world deploy inclusive strategies into their educational system. We must, at this stage, cast our net far and wide. There is a thin line between ability and disability. Therefore, the government must put mechanisms in place to ensure disability concern is taken care of in our educational system,” he said.

Ismail Jinadu, the executive secretary of the Nigerian Educational Research Development Council (NERDC), said the government must take responsibility for fulfilling the fundamental rights of children’s education.

Mr Junaidu stressed the need to design a curriculum that includes all children with special needs, noting that “NERDC already has a robust framework for special needs education in Nigeria, but implementing the framework needs a holistic approach which required immediate attention.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu, said in its support of inclusion and equality, Nigeria had signed and ratified the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 24.

Mr Sununu said the article provided that all schools must be inclusive and accessible to all children, including those with disabilities. He added that Nigeria also signed the 17 SDGs), particularly goal four, with aspirational targets that by 2030, all school-age children, including those with disabilities, must have access to qualitative, functional, and effective basic education.

“The ministry is working hard with relevant agencies and development partners to craft a support system to address some of these challenges that have been identified.

“Recognising the diverse needs of our students, we will continue to strengthen and expand Inclusive education programmes and provide services that ensure that no child is left behind. Our mission, as a ministry, is to dismantle existing barriers to the attainment of these goals and ensure that every child’s right to quality education is attained,” he explained.

The council’s country director, Lucy Pearson, tasked the government with formulating inclusive policy and mainstreaming the policy into the system.

(NAN)