THE LEARNING PLACE ADOPTS MARYLAND PRIMARY INCLUSIVE SCHOOL

Maryland Inclusive Primary School, Maryland, is to be adopted by the Learning Place Special Centre, Lekki, a non-profit organization with interest in Education of Special Children.


This was disclosed by Mrs. Bolanle Adewole, the Executive Director, learning Place Special Centre who led the team of three experts in the area of children with special needs from AACTION on a courtesy visit to the Honourable Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye in her office recently.

According to Mrs. Adewole, the organization will partner with Lagos State government in improving the standard of education, especially in the area of children with special needs, with a view to ensure education for all children irrespective of their circumstances.

She further said that they were interested in the actual needs of the Special Schools/inclusive units in the State, capacity building of Teachers, Parents and other stakeholders of children with special needs and also building it up to world standard with plans to extend the gesture to other schools both in Public and Private Schools.

According to the Executive Director, the visit was to commemorate the Annual World Autism Awareness Day celebration, which informed the learning Place Special Centre in Lekki to organize a three-day workshop on strategies for implementing the components of Structure Teaching at Home, Work, School and in the Community for Special Education Teachers, parents and Stakeholders in Lagos State.

The Organisation also intends to do intensive intervention by coming in with Diagnostic kits in order to be able to accurately diagnose the specific needs of the Special Children. The Capacity building is intended to strengthen the curriculum of the teachers, and help them in identifying the specific needs of the children.

While welcoming the team to Lagos State and the Ministry of Education, the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Oladunjoye Olayinka, expressed her delight at the team for their visit to the ministry and their intervention in the area of children with special needs.

She commended them for believing in the mission of the State Government to educate every child in Lagos State; irrespective of their circumstances.

According to her, the State Government has the Child Rights and with Special People needs law which says that every child must be in school especially children that are physically challenged, insisting that they have the right to exist and also enjoy a sense of belonging.

The Commissioner expressed her happiness that the team will be bringing a more structured training to the teaching and learning in schools where there are children with special needs.

While assuring the team of governments continued support, Mrs. Oladunjoye however lamented that the education sector has a lot of challenges which cannot be met by government alone, hence the call for support from NGOs like the Learning place.

Responding, the President of Hope in AACTION, Mr. Christopher Flint expressed his delight to be in Africa and Nigeria for the first time declaring the commitment of his organisation to bringing to the state a world standard training for caregivers of children with special needs.