Mr. Afolabi Fajemilo, the Executive Director of Festus Fajemilo Foundation (FFF), has said that the Community of Practice on Inclusive Education will enhance the effective delivery of inclusive education and most importantly spread the culture of good practices across various inclusive schools in Lagos state.
Mr. Fajemilo made this known while speaking at an ideation workshop on the development of a web-based platform for community of Practice on inclusive education organized by FFF as part of the United for Inclusive Education (UIE) Project, supported by the Disability Rights Fund (DRF), USA.
Mr. Fajemilo buttressed that the CoP being set up by FFF is an avenue to create a platform where all stakeholders within the education sector can share knowledge and resources regarding Inclusive Education, which would intern help to ensure qualitative and effective inclusive education for children with disabilities.
He shared, “this is a pilot project that we’re starting in Lagos because Lagos always leads, and we expect that it would be replicated in other parts of the country.
“This is why we have ensured that representatives of the Lagos State Ministry of Education and State Universal Basic Education Board are involved from the onset.”
Delivering his presentation on ‘Concept of Community of Practice and adaption to Inclusive Education’, Dr. Adebukola Adebayo, Disability-Inclusion Consultant explained that the main strategy of a CoP is Knowledge Management, where “communities organize, manage, and steward a body of knowledge from which community members can draw.”
Dr. Adebayo recalled that during a previous survey conducted by FFF across all the inclusive schools in Lagos State, some good practices were identified in some schools while some schools were not performing efficiently.
“With the community of practice, school administrators and teachers can begin to share good practices available in their schools and that can help to improve the delivery of inclusive education in the state,” he added.
At the end of the ideation workshop, where the virtual CoP was screened for inputs by all participants, education stakeholders were drafted into the CoP and some of them include; Teachers, SUBEB, Ministry of Education, Education Districts, School-Based Management Committee, Parents’ forum, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities and NGOs working on education and disability-inclusion.