Acquisition of vocational skills by persons living with disabilities in Edo State: challenges and prospects

Abstract

The disabled constitute a significant demographic group in the Nigerian population. Estimate vary for the number of people with disabilities in Nigeria. The need to integrate these category of persons into the workforce of the Nigerian society necessitated this study. This study reviewed the state of disability in Nigeria and the skill abilities of the disabled. Despite the skill abilities of the disabled as identified, the literature reviewed, revealed that the challenges militating against the incorporation of the disabled into vocational training programme are community Perception about the disabled; the absence of mechanism for evaluating special vocational training programme of persons with disabilities; equipment and infrastructural factors and teachers’ factor. The study recommends that a vocational educational curriculum which suits the educational needs of children with disabilities should be designed together with the pedagogical way of teacher as well as the educational environment that will suit the learners.