Magdalene is at home because she has no school place, she was rejected by every school her Council approached because she has autism, and her anxiety means she needs a high level of support.
According to the mother of one of the autistic children, Emma, say that we believe that they contacted about 11 schools, possibly a few more than that, they received all the replies and they were negative, they could not meet Magdeline’s needs. There was no school, there was no school.
as a last resort, she’s joined a growing number of children whose parents are instead given money to pay for educational activities outside of school.
There was nothing else that we could have done. I think that the current educational system is outdated and not working for kids with autism.
forced out of the recognized school system, Magdalene now comes here. it’s a controversial form of Education known as the unregistered alternative provision which is increasingly the only option for children shut out of regular schooling as long as they’re small and part-time places like this don’t have to register with offsted, no one oversees them, this was set up at a caravan park by two trained teachers who also have children with autism.
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Leanne Jacques, the director at bud@upwood disclosed that she gets calls every day from a different family that they are in crisis, they don’t know where to turn, they’ve reached out to so many different Services asking for help, and there is no answer, we don’t know what to do next.
It’s estimated that at least 20,000 children attend these schools, but the exact number is unknown due to a lack of control.
as a former teacher in Senko, I wanted to create a platform to share some of these amazing, this podcaster and special needs advisor works with families fighting for school places.
quite frankly, these unregistered alternative Provisions are propping up the education system, because we don’t have places for these children, Georgina said.
According to the send consultant and author, Georgina Durrant, absolutely yes, because there’s no oversight on this, how do we know they’re doing a good job, how do we know these children are being well looked after, these are very vulnerable children with special education needs and disabilities, they might not be able to communicate and we’re trusting these children in these settings with these people that we don’t know as much about as we should perhaps.
but the numbers explain the need, there are 8,400 children like Magdalene, who get funding for Education other than at school known as Eotas instead of a school place.
in England, 1.5 million pupils have special educational needs, an increase of more than 87,000 since 2022. but the number of special school places has only risen by around 7,000, that doesn’t explain though why so many mainstream schools are turning children away.
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I think the pressures on schools are multifaceted, head teachers said. The president of the National Association of Head Teachers, Simon Kidwell, disclosed that There are some perverse incentives within the system, so if you’re an inclusive school, it’s more difficult to accomplish the extremely high standards that certain schools attain. we have to go and fund the first £6,000 in our school when you take multiple children with additional needs that add up.
Are you saying that schools are not encouraged to accept pupils with special education needs because of the Department of Education?
Yes, I think the system, the accountability system goes and goes and acts against our most inclusive schools, Simon said.
it’s the job of schools to educate every pupil and you’re not
Kidwell maintains that no and I would say, then they need to make sure they invest properly in schools so we’ve got their support to go and educate our most vulnerable and needy children.
The Department for Education says councils are responsible for making sure there’s appropriate education for all children, and adds that it’s increasing funding this year 2024.
but children like Magdalene have been rejected by a school system that no longer provides.
STUDENT UNION DECRIES NON-INCLUSION OF THE LOAN SCHEME
President Bola Tinubu introduced the interest-free student loan bill in mid-June of last year. This bill established the Nigerian education loan fund, but its implementation is still expected to take seven months, despite speakers criticizing the lack of student participation in the process and raising concerns about systemic corruption.
Sen. Elisha Abbo, a former Nigerian lawmaker said, it is still a scheme, we don’t have a Nigerian students commission, and we don’t have it in this country.
The president of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Lucky Emonete disclosed that, as for us Nigerian students, the scheme has not started, that Saddled with the responsibility that the president has given the responsibility to handle this student loan, I think they have not started.
Lucky maintains that, because if they said they had started, I as the representative of over 40 million Nigerian students have not been involved, I have not sensitized myself to students.
so they have not started, I don’t want people there to deceive Nigeria, we know Mr. President has good intentions, but those giving the responsibility have not started, first and foremost we need to be involved in the process, lucky said.
NANS and other stakeholders warn against hiking tuition fees.
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Senior special adviser to the president on student affairs, Sunday Asefo said that he wants to shout, the executive of NANS, the presidential order is a presidential executive order, which I want the president of NANS to take seriously. Henceforth you are to go to any school where they increase school fees, they won’t call it school fees, they will call it chargers, you have the authority of Mr. President, and you have the Mandate of the senior special assistance to the president to talk to any Vice Chancellor, rector, or Provost of any school who henceforth injects pains to the life of Nigerian students.
in addition to tuition loans to students, there is also a plea for government intervention by subsidizing the cost of living for students.
The spokesperson National Association of Nigerian Students, Mimidoo Gundu, said that the increase in school fees is hurting us in many ways. First, many students are crying as we use the money that should be going toward welfare to pay for school fees. Secondly, everything has increased, including transportation, food, and all the things we buy at the market. Finally, the school fees are still being increased.
A student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Ernest Okafor, explained that a loaf of bread at 1,200, and you know students eat bread a lot, and it is telling on us, we usually go on garri now, because it’s hard on us.
Joseph Asuke, an author and educationist, maintains that the student loan thing is helpful, but it also depends on the terms of repayment.
Educationist, Mustapha Tahir, said that it must be structured in a way that the student’s problem will be accommodated, and the government is going to work out a fashion for a lasting solution to this problem, we advise them that they should have a student commission.
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The student loan, when accessed by tertiary education students, is expected to be repaid in installments two years after completing their participation in the National Youth Service core NYSC program.