- “We are calling on the government to increase budgetary allocations and expenditure on education, as well as to make policies on public education more sensitive to the rights of children and other marginalised groups,” Ajayi said.
A non-governmental organisation, the Human Development Initiatives has partnered Action Aid Nigeria, to call on the Lagos State Government to pay more attention to the educational needs of children, girls and persons living with disabilities in the state in order to ensure inclusive, quality and free education for all.
The organisation made this known on Wednesday during an advocacy and awareness walk at the Lagos State House of Assembly in Ikeja, Lagos, to commemorate the 2019 Global Action Week for Education themed, Making the right to an inclusive, equitable, quality and free education a reality.
Speaking during the walk, which kicked off at Allen Avenue Roundabout in Ikeja, the Coordinator of the Lagos Global Week for Education, Samuel Ajayi, said there was a need to make schools’ infrastructure user-friendly, particularly for persons with disability.
“We are calling on the government to increase budgetary allocations and expenditure on education, as well as to make policies on public education more sensitive to the rights of children and other marginalised groups,” Ajayi said.
Also, the Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Right of Persons with Disability, Danlami Basharu, lamented the lack of access to education among disabled persons.
“The facilities for the education of disabled persons are not available and their teachers are not properly trained. They (disabled persons) should be provided with the same inclusive, quality education like all other children in the same environment. It is not enough to have children with disability in a classroom with children without disability, without providing them with the necessary wherewithal for their education.”
In his address, Chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Education, Lanre Ogunyemi, stressed the need for quality education in the state.
He said, “Although the state budget for education is not yet there, it has always been very reasonable. The state assembly would continue to do the needful and it is not just for us to appropriate the funds, it is necessary we ensure judicious utilization of the funds in other to make sure we give quality education to our children.
“We must look at every challenge that confronts the education sector. How many of our children are out of school? How are we sure we are giving the same quality of education to every child in the state? How do we ensure he or she enjoys the same level of education as those in Lekki or high-brow Ikoyi? These are some of our concerns.”
