CHALLENGES CONFRONTING BLIND EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

CHALLENGES CONFRONTING BLIND EDUCATION IN NIGERIA Nigerian blind child is confronted with a lot of challenges in his quest to acquire knowledge, get gainfully employed and earn a worthy living. In all stages of education in Nigeria ranging from primary to tertiary, specialist facilities and specialist teachers are rarely available. His class room is nothing to write home about – no desk for the pupil to sit on, no stylus and no writing frame, Braille is taught under extreme difficulties, no typewriter to teach the pupil on how to type without which integration of the pupil into model secondary school would be hard. For clarity purposes, Braille is a form of reading and writing for the blind. Right from primary school, a blind child is taught to read and write Braille as most books are expected to be in Braille in order for him to study. Also, at the primary level, a blind child is taught to type with the typewriter as a means of communicating with the sighted particularly his teacher during exams. So, if a blind child does not know how to read and write Braille and cannot type as well, he remains largely illiterate. Imagine a situation where a blind child is not exposed to western education, what other option is open to him? How useful would he be in life to himself and the larger society? Whereas his sighted colleague who fails to acquire western education is able to engage himself in one meaningful activity or the other, the blind child is truly limited. Since he cannot push the truck, drive or conduct a bus, dry clean clothes, run shops or business centres, or possibly participate in the normal trading and commercial activities in our open markets, his only viable option remains going to school and acquiring the much needed knowledge for gainful employment into our offices. It therefore becomes pertinent that everything possible be done to give our blind children education in order to give them a future. A blind child who is not educated will ultimately end up in the streets as beggars which is one of the very reason why Redemption International for the Blind came into existence, to help eliminate street begging by blind persons. It is understandable that anyone who falls into a pit and does not cry out wants to remain there.! Since our registration as a charity in Scotland in 2009, we have worked very hard to advance the education of the blind in Nigeria under extreme circumstances with no support from the government. Nigerians are by nature not given to charity. Those of them who have the financial resources do not believe in charity. They only give at political gatherings to further their political ambitions. They do not give where there is no clear immediate gain. Every year, we hold a charity convention in Nigeria where we distribute for free specialist facilities designed to advance the education of the blind. Such facilities like laptop and desktop computers are given out. While the laptop computers are donated to individual blind students in tertiary institutions, the desktop computers are donated to secondary schools that admit blind students so that they can be taught computer alongside with their sighted colleagues. Other facilities available for grabs during our annual charity convention include typewriters, tape recorders, talking and Braille wrist watches, guide canes, talking BP monitors, talking Bibles, Braille papers, scanners, printers, Braille writing frames, Perkins braillers, etc. In all, we seek to create such an atmosphere where the Nigerian blind child can go to school and be presented with equal opportunity to excel in his academics just like his sighted colleagues. With the right attitude, right facilities, right teachers and right environment, this is achievable. Help us! Join us in this fight!