As part of the 2024 Children’s Day Celebration, the Network for the Advancement of People with Visible Disabilities (NAPVID), last Thursday held an event to celebrate special needs children in Edo State.
The event, which took place at the Bishop Kelly Pastoral Centre, had in attendance staff and students of School for the Hearing Impaired, School for the Blind, Visually Impaired students of Ihogbe and Idia Colleges as well as students of Rose Luyi College.
Delivering a speech, the Executive Director of NAPVID, Melody Omosah, Esq., urged the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to capture students with special needs in the EdoBEST 2.0 initiative to improve teaching and learning with the aid of technology.
According to Omosah, though the state government is already doing that with the training of teachers of special needs children, there is need to do more especially in the area of accommodation in schools to encourage education of special needs children across the state.
“No amount of investment or sacrifice is too much to be made on behalf of the children, especially the children with special needs”, Omosah said.
On her part, Executive Chairman of Edo SUBEB, Mrs Ozavize Salami, commended NAPVID for its consistency and advocacy in advancing the welfare of persons living with disabilities, especially students with special needs.
Salami, who was represented at the occasion by Edo SUBEB director of social mobilization, Mrs Uhunmwangho Okpiaivbie Eghosa, maintained that every child irrespective of their ability or where they reside in the society is entitled to equal rights.
She encouraged the students to be serious with their education to enable them compete favourably with other regular students.
Highpoint of the event, which has as its theme: “For Every Child, Every Right”, was presentations by students of the different special schools.
