Bauchi special need school seeks govt’s attention

The management of the Special Need School, Bauchi has decried the treatment of the institution as a conventional school despite the peculiar needs of its students who comprised the deaf and blind.

The principal of the school, Malam Ishiaku Dauda, is therefore calling on the state government to transfer the school from the Ministry of Education to the Bauchi State Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s Agency (BASOVCA) to enable it to get the required attention.

The, he said, is necessary if the school is to be efficiently catered for considering the kind of mission and funding the agency is getting from stakeholders and development partners.

Dauda made the plea when he received a delegation of civil society organisations (CSOs), representatives of RUWASA and primary healthcare on an advocacy visit to the school.

He explained that the school, with a population of 630 students, lacks basic water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities as existing ones were either dilapidated or have packed up and therefore non-functional.

Dauda requested for urgent support to rehabilitate broken down boreholes and dilapidated toilets, supply of drugs to the clinic as well as books.

Earlier, the leader of the advocacy team, Magaji Barde of a Bauchi-based NGO, WODASS said the visit was to assess availability and functionality of WASH facilities in the school as part of efforts to check the spread of cholera and COVID-19.

He implored the state government to urgently come to the aid of the special school considering the fact that most of the students are from poor background, adding that, “Water Aid Nigeria in partnership with State RUWASA, Primary Healthcare Development Agency and CSOs would render assistance to the special school in line with their respective mandates.”