On Saturday, Prof. Kamoru Usman, Provost of Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, emphasized that reaching the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals requires more commitment and collaboration from all stakeholders of education. He made this statement during a news conference marking the beginning of the college’s 17th convocation ceremony in the institution’s conference room in Oyo town. Usman stated,
“The reality today is that the Federal Government alone cannot shoulder the burden of providing education that will make us achieve the SDG 2030 Goals for education, not to talk of the much-needed resources to implement special education teacher training.
“There is a need for greater commitment, collaboration, and partnership from all stakeholders including the Federal, State, and Local Governments as well as International and Multinational Organisations, Non-governmental Organisations, philanthropists, and indeed all those who believe in our common humanity under God.”
Regarding the convocation, the provost confirmed they would officially award the Nigeria Certificate in Education in various special education fields to 13,364 graduates.
As a result, the provost urged the government and other stakeholders to contribute more resources to the college to enable her to carry out her mandate.
“Of all the 32 Federal Colleges of Education, Oyo is the only one with a mandate to train teachers and other paraprofessionals in special education for the disabled, the gifted, and other different learning challenges.
“The college has the largest concentration of students with disabilities that could be found in any higher institution in Nigeria. These include hearing impaired, visually impaired, physically impaired, and those with multiple disabling conditions. That this college should be specially funded by the government will be an understatement. It must, however, be stressed that FCES has not been funded in the reality of what it takes to qualitatively provide training for teachers in special education.”
cc: Punch Ng
