Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Photo | Saed Abdullahi setting off for school in Kismayo/Jaamac Joofane/Ergo
(ERGO) - Saed Abdullah Aw-Aden, 13, paralysed from the waist down from polio, sets off every day in his customized three-wheeler feeling lucky to have the chance to go to school like the other neighbourhood children.
Saed has been given a free place at Ahmed Bin Hanbal School in Kismayo’s Alenley neighbourhood.
“I am very glad I got the education I always dreamed of,” said Saed. “I am in class one and am studying English, mathematics, Arabic, Somali and religious studies. I want to become a teacher or work in an office in the future.”
Saed is among 48 disabled children who have been welcomed free into local schools following a campaign organized by the Jubbaland committee for the disabled. Committee members worked to encourage parents to allow their disabled sons and daughters to go to school, and held meetings with teachers to appeal for free tuition places for them.
Madino Sheik Aden, Saed’s mother, told Radio Ergo she had never believed her child could keep up with able bodied children, but she had seen otherwise.
“My son getting an education is a huge milestone for him,” she said. “Saed is doing well at school and I keep an eye on how he is doing and check his work from class.”
Ahmed Bin Hambal school accepted 12 disabled children in August, including three girls, all aged between six and 15. Badrudin Shukri Abdullahi, the principal, said they were convinced by the campaigners that disabled children should benefit from education.
“We are telling the parents that they should not demoralize their children but send them to schools. We are ready to support them until they graduate,” he said.
Hussein Farah Dirir, deputy chairman of Jubbaland disabled committee, told Radio Ergo they would continue their campaign to get all 220 children known to have disabilities in the town into schools.