Bauchi State Agency for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), has called for partnership with the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, to enhance access to quality education for persons with disabilities.
The Executive Secretary of the agency, Mrs Brisca Aaron, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN), on Thursday in Bauchi.
Aaron said such partnership between the agency and tertiary institutions of learning would avail students with disabilities the opportunities to further their education, to realise their full potentials.
She called for engagement of special education instructors and adoption of sound programmes to expand the scope of admission in the schools for students with special needs.
This, she said, would assist the students with disabilities to excel in various fields of study.
“Some students with disabilities are passionate to obtain higher certificates, but they are constrained by lack of availabile facilities in schools.
“Lack of access to toilets and unfriendly architectural design have deprived them the right to education, and some of them neglect or totally abandoned schools.
“It is desirable to provide facilities for the PWDs to create conducive learning atmosphere in the schools.
“We have our children in all the schools, we want the schools to consider us and allocate more slots, we want our students to pursue higher education in various disciplines,” she said.
Aaron said the management of the agency had so far visited the university and other tertiary institutions of learning with a view to forge partnership towards promoting access to education for person with disabilities in the state.
She listed the institutions to include Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi; Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic (ATAP) and Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board (BASUBEB).
Aaron further urged government at all levels to accord priority to the needs of PWDs in new layout designs and construction projects. (NAN)
