M.D School, the first private inclusive school in Lagos, is set to roll out the drums to honour the legacy of its pioneering vision, as it celebrates its 40th anniversary of nurturing young minds to excellence.
Speaking at a pre-event chat during the week, Mrs. Omolara Adedugbe, Executive Director of the school, said the celebration of the school’s 40 years anniversary, is to honour the school’s pioneering vision of inclusive education and the achievement of excellence.
“It is the celebration of the courage of our vision and the belief that it is possible.”
It is she said, “a celebration of endurance, resilience and deep empathy that we have poured into nurturing so many young minds to excellence, these past 40 years. To God’s glory, I believe we have done well.”
Reminiscing on the school’s difficult journey from its early beginnings, Mrs. Adedugbe said the school has achieved so much in 40 years of its existence, with branches now at Oko-Oba and Ifako-Ogba in Lagos respectively.
While underlining the courage, commitment and resilience that has gone into building the school’s heritage of compassion, deep empathy, and a legacy of excellence for which it is now known, she narrated that it was not easy at the beginning.
“It was difficult in the beginning. We started with children with hearing impairment. Then, when officials from the ministry of education observed that we were registered as an inclusive school, they encouraged us to bring in regular children.” That was how we started, she narrated.
However, to her dismay and so unexpectedly, “immediately we did that, problem started. Many parents didn’t want their children to be associated with children with disabilities so, they started withdrawing their children from the school.
“Parents don’t want to hear that their children are in a school for children with special needs. They didn’t want their children to be associated with children with disability. So, there was the problem of stigmatisation from the beginning,” she narrated.
However, over the years although mindsets are gradually shifting, she disclosed that the model of the school has also undergone changes. The school now has more of regular children, alongside a programme for the children with special needs.
“So, alongside our regular school programme, what we now have is a special plan for these children we call neuro-divergent children, when they come in. We have now adopted a model that is called Individualised Education Programme or plan (IEP), which allows them to learn at their own pace.”
According to her, what really gladdens her heart is that in 40 years of its existence, M.D school has succeeded in no small way, in helping to reshape societal mindsets and set agenda for a more compassionate community where diversity is normalised rather than feared.
