Most blind pupils in FCT are from low income families – Head Teacher

What does it take to run a school for blind children? Well, it is fun and also capital intensive. It entails a lot of work. The learning materials and structures are on the high side if we stick to international standard. But the way the third world countries address the handicapped is bad. We don’t […]

What does it take to run a school for blind children?

Well, it is fun and also capital intensive. It entails a lot of work. The learning materials and structures are on the high side if we stick to international standard. But the way the third world countries address the handicapped is bad. We don’t want to put in money especially when it comes to this set of people. They feel it is a waste of money. Most times it’s as a result of ignorance as people are not well informed about special education.

The way you work has to be one that is friendly to the blind child. But if you look around, their classrooms are moderate in size. We are using the normal sized classroom that carries 35 students whereas, in a special school such as this, where we don’t have a large population, a class consists of just 18 students.

Also, in terms of personnel, this kind of school needs a psychologist, counsellors, physiotherapist, nurses and ophthalmologists but we don’t have them. Even the nurse we have here is paid by parents not the government.  

Are there no provisions for them?

Each time we request for a nurse, they will say “Not yet, we don’t have one” so at one of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings, we decided to get a nurse, who the parents pay anyway. That’s their own contribution.  

Well, for the ophthalmologist, what they do is send doctors from a general hospital to check the pupils once a year. However, we are meant to have them resident here so that when we are admitting, the ophthalmologist and other doctors as well will be doing their work to check if the child is physically fit for school. This is because it is stipulated in the National Policy on free education that all these should be put in place.

We have enough teachers, although we have regular teachers that did not read special education. There are 26 teachers, but the specialists are just 10.

Our work also has to do with interest. I can say that those teachers who are not specialists have developed the ability due to their interest. Those that have interest usually develop the ability to understand the peculiarities. Someone donated a Qur’an in Braille from Saudi Arabia but the teachers couldn’t read it. So we asked an Islamic group in Federal Ministry of Finance to give us an English translated version of the Qur’an.

Teachers are to determine the material adaptations for students who are blind. How this it done?

A blind child is supposed to have a slate and a stylus, a Braille machine, a typewriter, as well as his or her own mobility cane. He should also have a Taylor frame, a mathematical set which has been adapted to make you learn well. But all this cost a lot. For instance, a Braille machine used to cost about N250,000; a Taylor frame, slate and stylus go for N6,000 each. Then a durable mobility cane goes for N10,500, though there are also canes which cost as high as N100,000. This kind of cane usually referred to as Pathfinder tells you when you are approaching an object. But we use the ordinary cane here. We import these canes from Ghana because we don’t make them in Nigeria.

Our enrolment is 138, but as of last term we had 119 pupils, some did not resume and if you called their parents, they tell stories relating to inadequate fund. We don’t charge anything apart from the medical fee of N1,500. Last time we had an NGO, Osiodu Foundation, that made uniforms for pupils. We have others like that but the parents still have lukewarm attitude to the blind pupils studies.

It’s the government’s job to create awareness; we won’t carry our salary and say we are educating people.

Most of our children are from churches. We have the Christian Blind Mission which has been in existence for over 20 years. They introduce these children to us. 

Sometimes, parents get information from hospitals about the special school. For example in Asokoro Hospital, immediately they discover the child needs special education, they call us. Then sometimes, when we move with our buses in town people stop us to enquire about the school.

Occasionally, we go for live shows on radio or television, which is how people get to know about us. The government should have programmes on radio or television. However, how many parents with handicapped children have television or even listen to radio. Most times our blind children come from poor parental backgrounds. This is because the parents do not attend to eye diseases before they escalate due to lack of fund.

Looking at the bright side, how far have your graduates gone in their education level?

Some students are in universities; we have about three students that finished from here now in ABU Zaria. Some are even working with government. Most of them are teachers. We also have few that are lawyers. Normally, when they finish from here they go to GSS Kwali, so they are progressing. It’s not like the handicapped school that a child will be attending for over 10 years. Our pupils here spend less than that because they are highly intelligent. We have a boy who was reading veterinary medicine and became blind; he came here and spent some weeks instead of the usual 18 months although he had to change his course.

What is the carrying capacity of this school?

A standard school for the blind is supposed to contain 200 students. However, it is difficult to obtain this number. In this school, the capacity is suppose to be 150 unless hostels are built. We don’t have hostels. All the hostels have been converted into classrooms. If hostels are built we would be able to accommodate up to 200, but for now we have just 138.

Each child is supposed to have a Braille machine. We have 74 machines in all – 20 are beyond repair and 54 are okay but need to be serviced. So, only primary 5 and 6 are allowed to use it although the children are supposed to start using the machines from primary one. The children in other classes use slates and stylus.