The Adolescent Girl Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), in Gombe State has commenced the engagement of CSOs and NGOs towards increasing access to education for girls with disabilities.
The Gombe State Coordinator of the AGILE programme, Dr. Amina Haruna Abdul, decried the neglect of these girls at the commencement of engagement with Civil Society Organisations (CSO’s) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
The engagement was organised with the purpose of enhancing the success of the programme and Dr. Amina stressed the great need to increase the access of education for girls with disabilities in Gombe State.
Dr. Amina stated that the engagement which is intended to be a continuous one was called to gather inputs and recommendations from the stakeholders on enhancing disability inclusion in AGILE’s projects, particularly in education and economic empowerment.
She lamented the rampant use of girls for farm labour in Gombe stressing further that many girls have abandoned school because of early marriages, early pregnancies, gender issues, among many other challenges.
During the engagement, persons with disabilities, emphasised the need for increased representation and participation of females with disabilities in AGILE’s initiatives.
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They pointed out that girls with disabilities face many forms of discriminations due to their physical impairments as many others are also denied access to education.
The participants urged AGILE to prioritise females with disabilities in their economic empowerment to enable them enrol in schools thereby enhancing education among the state’s residents.
In a paper presentation titled “Challenges to Learning for Qdolescent Girls with Disabilities,” Zubairu Suleiman of the Faculty of Education, Gombe State University, highlighted many challenges faced by girls with disabilities in accessing education.
Those challenges, according to him, include physical barriers, a situation where these girls are restricted to accessing education because of their various physical limitations.
Others he listed are lack of specialized teaching resources as well as inadequate learning materials among many others
