Anambra Special Needs Students Appeal To Governor Soludo For Electricity

Students of Basden Memorial Special Education Centre, a school that caters to the blind, deaf and dumb in Isulo, Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State, have pleaded with Governor Chukwuma Soludo to provide electricity in the school.

The special students also decried the lack of social amenities including potable water in the school which has resulted in daily discomfort and pain.

On Monday, when some well-meaning indigenes of the community visited the school on a tour, the physically challenged students complained of being neglected over the years.

Speaking on behalf of her colleagues, one of the students who spoke on the condition of anonymity said: “We live at the mercy of snakes and other dangerous animals. Snakes and other dangerous reptiles usually creep into the school environment and places of habitat mostly at night; which exposes us to the risk of snake bites and other such harm.

“But with constant light on the premises, those dangerous animals won’t creep in anymore, while those that had already crept in would be easily seen and killed.

“We are calling on the state government, led by the governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to urgently come to our aid by providing the school with those necessities, which would also help to improve our comfort and guarantee our safety.

“This is a school for children with special needs. We also need teaching aids, so as to enhance and facilitate our learning process.”

The state Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, when contacted, revealed that the state was working on repositioning the "special needs" schools in Anambra State. 

Chuma-Udeh noted that her ministry had sent a memo to the governor requesting that the solar system at the school be fixed.

She claimed that the current administration is aware of the difficulties facing the schools because it is now working on numerous projects in various Special schools throughout the State.

The commissioner also stated that the difficulties the schools have had have been ongoing, but she also promised that they will all be eventually resolved.

“We have written a memo to the governor so that we can repair their solar system for them. We just reconstructed their toilets and all whatnot. We are working there. All the special schools are under reconstruction now.

“This is a perennial problem, it did not start with this administration. So, we are taking these things gradually; it is not something that will just vanish with the wave of a hand.

“Basden (the school) told us they had problems with their sumo (pumping machine), and we had gone there to rectify their sumo; and they have water. And now, you are talking about light. Gradually, these things will be rectified.

“We have other special schools; it is not only Basden. And the governor is so much interested in their affairs,” she explained.