By Dayyabu Tanimu Azare.
Myriad of challenges make financing college education extra hard and expensive for students with disabilities. This status quo may prevent such students from attending school full-time – thus limiting their chances for financial aid and scholarships reserved for those with full-time status.
Disabilities may also require access to accommodations or support that are not provided by schools. Then, there’s the issue of required medical care not covered by school-sponsored insurance plans. Situations like this force students with Disabilities into working part-time jobs to offset tuition costs.
It’s cheering news to read that Aminu Saleh college of education Azare, Bauchi State under the leadership of Dr. Abdullahi Isyaku is the only college or even tertiary institution in Nigeria that is offering free, affordable and accessible education to the people with different sort of special need, physically challenge, visual impaired, hearing impaired, LDS, EBD, orphans children from poor families and vulnerable children and adults ranges from admission forms, registration fee for PRE-NCE, NCE, Degree, and PG program.
The number of people with special needs in the college are estimated to be at least 4% of the school’s population.
Approximately 200 students with special needs are enrolled in Pre-NCE, and NCE program in the college every year, and about 1000 students with different forms of disabilities study in the departments of their choice in the college.
There are also about 50 students with specific disabilities and needs enrolled in degree and PG program.
The assistant secretary of National Association of Special Education Teachers, (NASET) Bauchi chapter Mallam Dayyabu Umar took this to social media calling for the attention of different organizations and people with Disabilities to join together with the Aminu Saleh College of Education Azare to move the education of these categories of individual forward and meet their unique needs.
Umar stated “we solicit the support of people with special needs individuals from within and outside Nigeria. These are people in authority voluntary organization, NGOs, politicians, government itself, philanthropist, educationist, Social workers, counselors, medical personnels etc. They should extend hands of fellowship to Aminu Saleh College of Education Azare to move the education of these categories of individuals forward and meet their unique needs.
Umar added, the kind of aid we need isn’t necessarily monetary support but materials (braille machine, slate, stylus, braille out embosser, hearing aids, wheel chairs, crutches, tricycle, headgear, sign language interpreters etc) to aid the vision of VI, the mobility of people with physically challenge and to help people with hearing impairment to learn very well.”
“Also, facilities such as stair cases, classes with wide corridor and hand rails etc.