By Khalid Idris Doya
Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) said that the Federal Government is fully committed to ensuring that the goal of the basic education programme is achieved in all its ramifications.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi said that while UBEB is pursuing the expansion of access to quality basic education for all children of school age, special attention is being paid to the category of children who can easily miss schooling due to one form of physical challenge or the other.
"The Federal Government, through the Universal Basic Education Commission and other basic education stakeholders, has committed itself to ensuring that the goal of the basic education programme is achieved in all its ramifications."
Dr. Bobboyi was speaking in Bauchi weekend at the end of the training of 1,878 selected teachers on Inclusive Education Delivery Process in Nigeria held simultaneously in six geo-political zones of the country, revealing that North East has 300 out of the figure who were trained in Bauchi.
He stated, "The drive towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 4, which enjoins all signatory countries to "Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030." puts additional pressure on education providers to do more in the area of special needs education".
Bobboyi recalled that since the commencement of the implementation of universal basic education programme in Nigeria, adequate attention has always been paid to special needs education, saying 2% of the Federal Government's Consolidated Revenue Fund dedicated as intervention fund for the implementation of the UBE programme is allocated to Special Needs Education.
"For example, of the 1,019 special basic schools captured during the UBEC 2022/2023 National Personnel Audit, government schools were 515 with an enrolment of 124,867 learners in basic education. There were 504 private special schools with an enrolment of 51,140 learners".
"This contribution of the private providers to Special Needs education provision, particularly those that are non-fee paying, is recognized and makes it possible for them to access support funds from the Federal Government UBE Intervention Fund".
According to him, the teacher training is geared to build the capacity of basic education teachers to be able to address the peculiar challenges of special needs children, recalling that the commission conducted a needs assessment in 2023 which revealed wide gaps in the teachers' knowledge and skills in dealing with learners with mixed abilities in the same school.
Also speaking at the occasion, the director of special programme of the commission, Dr. (Mrs) A'isha A. Abdul said that the training is to build the capacity of 1878 teachers comprising of 50 selected teachers from 25 conventional schools and 2 selected teachers from the 14 currently operational SMART schools on inclusive education implementation processes Nationwide.
To achieve this, she said, the commission has developed an Inclusive Basic Education Training Manual which contains distinct and relevant items in ten Modules for the capacity building of teachers in the country.
Dr. A'isha explained, "This activity will take place in 3-phases and in six- geopolitical Zones as follows: (1) Phase 1. Kaduna for North-West and Ibadan (Oyo) for South-West. (2) Phase 2- Akwa-Ibom for South-South and Bauchi for North-East. (3) Phase 3- Nasarawa for North-Central and Imo for South-East."
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