Osun State Governor Adegboyega Oyetola on Tuesday inaugurated four socially-inclusive micro projects to celebrate 2019 International Day for Persons with Special Needs.He reiterated his administrations commitment to building a state where there will be equal opportunities for all citizens regardless of the difference in their physical status.Oyetola said the current administration has demonstrated great commitment to the welfare and education of the physically challenged persons in the same way it has done for their able-bodied colleagues.The governor spoke at the School for the Physically Challenged in Osogbo where he inaugurated micro projects, including Braille Press Centre for the blind, hostel for girls with disabilities, fencing of School of Children with Special Needs and tricycles for the physically challenged.As an administration, we place high premium on persons living with disabilities, we accord them the same attention and recognition as their able-bodied colleagues, and we make them an important part of everything we do, Oyetola said.He said Osun State has 10 schools for persons with special needseight residential and two day schools, adding that the government has remained committed to ensuring that feeding allowances and grants are promptly released to the schools.Read Also:Oyetola: One year afterHe said the government also provides the schools with instructional materials while also training and re-training their specialist teachers.Oyetola expressed the governments readiness to appoint from the people with special needs their representatives in the government, saying: We want to break all borders and ensure that no one has an excuse to waste his talent and deny Osun and the larger society their contributions.The Braille Press Centre for the Blind houses books and other reading materials transcribed for blind children to enable them review and study the written words with the aid of the braille. This will enhance literacy and intellectual capability.This Braille Press Centre is unique, it is the first of its kind in the Southwest and it is supported by the state government and managed by the Blind group. It will provide job opportunities for the blind and make them relevant members of the society, he added.The General Manager of Osun Agency for the Community and Social Development Project (CSDP), Mrs. Funmi Aderonke, had said that the four completed micro projects were in tandem with the three philosophical principles of the state development agenda, which were poverty eradication, gender and social inclusion, value addition and sustainability of development.She said the government, in conjunction with the World Bank through the Community and Social Development Project (CSDP), has committed one hundred and nine million, three hundred and seventeen thousand, eight hundred and fifty-five naira (N109, 317,855.00) for 48 socially inclusive micro projects, including the four being inaugurated today.The headmistress of the school, Mrs. Titilayo Amoo, thanked the government for the support and love for the people with special needs, saying the projects would increase the quality of teaching and learning in the school and enhance the pupils performance.In their separate remarks, some of the pupils thanked Governor Oyetola for prioritising their education and welfare.They praised him for identifying with them on the auspicious occasion, saying he was the only governor who had visited the school since its establishment over 20 years ago.
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