The Regalo Hope Foundation has called for stronger, inclusive and collaborative approaches to education to reinforce shared responsibility for empowering learners across schools, institutions, and communities.

The founder of the organisation, Chinenye Onuorah, and some other participants made the call on Thursday at the EduStake Conference 2026 in Lagos.

It attracted  education stakeholders, the general manager of the Lagos State Office of Disability Affairs, Adenike Oyetunde-Lawal, students, teachers and parents.

Onuorah said that inclusive education was not  a destination, but a continuous commitment requiring sustained courage, collaboration and consistency.

She said that the annual conference, which began in 2019, had grown into a collaborative space where educators, administrators, policymakers and advocates would share views.

She said that inclusive participation would strengthen education systems and improve outcomes for learners across diverse communities.

According to her,  panel sessions were designed to move participants beyond theory into practical, context-aware action that translates  access, equity, and empowerment into real classroom and community-level outcomes.

She celebrated graduates of the first Teachers’ Leadership Academy Associates, saying they had been equipped to lead, mentor others, influence policies, and shape inclusive learning environments with empathy and professional integrity.

In his keynote address, Samuel James, executive director of Seams Deaf-Pro Foundation, said collaboration among teachers, parents, governments and communities was necessary for education development.

He said that such collaboration would help to create an enabling environment for every child to thrive, irrespective of  challenges.

He said, “Diversity drives progress. Education must be human-centred and responsive, embracing visual thinkers, creative minds and differently-abled learners to transform untapped potential into recognised brilliance.

“Impact requires listening, shared ownership, and action. Teachers are nation-builders, students are possibilities, and collaboration is the strongest curriculum shaping the next generation.

“Talent is everywhere. Opportunity is not. Our systems must recognise and nurture all forms of potential.”

According to him, inclusion is not adapting people to spaces  but redesigning spaces so that everyone  would belong from the onset.

(NAN)