Evaluating the Vocational Rehabilitation Programme for Persons with Special Needs in Southwestern Nigeria
Keywords:
Vocational rehabilitation programme, Persons with special needs, Skills AcquisitionAbstract
Vocational Rehabilitation Programme (VRP) is designed to address the social, economic and learning needs of Persons with Special Needs (PWSNs). Though there are evidence that the programme’s objectives are hardly met, previous studies largely focused on determinants of learning outcomes of PWSNs in Southwestern Nigeria with little emphasis on evaluation of VRP. Therefore, this study was carried out to evaluate VRP in terms of the quality of instruction, availability of facilitators, and level of skills acquisition. The study sampled 1,569 individuals which consisted of all the 26 head of the vocational rehabilitation centers/public-owned special schools, 276 facilitators, 168 Care-givers, 1,099 individuals with special needs in the 26 centres and public-owned special schools offering vocational rehabilitation programme in six southwestern states (Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun and Lagos). The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Three research questions were tested and answered using mean, standard deviation and percentages. The study found that the general performance of the PWSNs in the programme was low as against the objective norm of 2.50, while supervision and control by the supervising government agency were ineffective. In addition, lack of trained facilitators, inadequate funding, ineffective supervision and monitoring, lack of training equipment and facilities were the major challenges confronting the effective VRP implementation. The vocational rehabilitation programme provided for Persons with Special Needs in Southwestern Nigeria was not impactful. Therefore, there is the need for effective supervision and provision of essential facilities and resources.
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