A non governmental organization, Lyceum Foundation, has partnered with Ogun State Government, to train over 100 teachers in state-owned primary and secondary schools on how to handle learning difficulties and provide basic care for the pupils to do better in their academics.
Director of Lyceum Foundation, Mrs Maureen Ola-williams said that the training was borne out of the need for teachers to acquire special skills in educating pupils or students with brain or chronic disorder to reduce learning difficulties among them.
Ola-williams, while addressing the teachers on Thursday at the Special Education Need Training for Ogun State Teachers held at St. Peters College Olomore, Abeokuta, urged them to be mindful of how they attend to the pupils in classes because some of them were suffering from brain disorder or dyslexia.
She stated that such disorder causes learning difficulties in some pupils or students as they find it difficult to understand what is being taught in the class hence the need to proffer special training for the teachers especially those in mainstream education.
Ola-williams, who is the Head of Lyceum Schools, Abeokuta, lamented the growing learning disabilities among pupils in public schools across the state, said that 1 in 10 children has learning disabilities, including virtual and hearing disease, urging the government to provide technology such as smart bulbs and other apps to assist them in learning.
She appealed to Governor Dapo Abiodun – led administration to create enough resources and pump funds into the education sector by also providing materials and enabling environment that could assist pupils and students in both special and main stream especially to overcome learning difficulties.
“Lyceum Foundation having realized that statistics is saying 1 in 10 children have one learning difficulty or the other. Most times, special children are abandoned and often labeled as “OLODO’ as some cannot learn with the pace of the class or need to be told repeatedly before they can assimilate.
“There are others with chronic or genetic disorder like autism etc. Most schools and teachers in Nigeria are not trained in handling these learners with learning difficulties like dyslexia.”
“That is the purpose of this training to know that 1 in 10 of every child has learning difficulties. Some who have this learning disabilities are virtual learners, you need things like technology like smart bulb, you need apps and those require funding.”
“So if government create enough resources and fund the school educational sector and also create more training like this and provision and implementation of amenities that will help the children thrive learn and favour those who have learning difficulties,” She added
