Subsidize education for visually impaired students, blind teacher urges govt

A visually impaired teacher, Winful Clement, has called on the government to provide education subsidy for visually impaired students.

Clement, an Information Communication Technology teacher at Pacelly School for the Blind and Partially Sighted Children, Lagos, made the appeal while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos last Sunday.

He said there is a need for government support given the prohibitive cost of educating children with visual impairments who need several equipment to learn.

“To train a visually impaired person like myself is very expensive than the able-bodied person," Clement said.

"On the average, a student needs more than N500, 000 to purchase the equipment he or she will use in school and also other resources which cannot be quantified."

Clement lamented that the government is more preoccupied with conventional schools to the detriment of those catering for students with special needs.

“The government is paying more attention to conventional schools for able- bodied students than special schools for persons with disabilities."

He also called for the passage of the Disability Bill which he called the last hope of persons living with disabilities.