BRIDGEit Renovates Wesley Community School for Hearing-Impaired Children, Installs Road Safety Signs
A corporate social responsibility (CSR) visit to encourage students at Wesley Community School for the Hearing Impaired in Surulere, Lagos, has grown into a wider intervention to improve learning, safety and inclusion.
Through its Include Me Surulere initiative and with partners, BRIDGEit has repaired the school’s leaking roofs, built new restrooms, repainted classrooms and installed road signs alerting motorists to the presence of persons living with disabilities.
Speaking for the BRIDGEit Titan House CSR team at the handover ceremony, Adefile Oluwapelumi said the project was driven by the realisation that the school and its students were receiving far less attention than they deserved.
Oluwapelumi, who grew up around the community, said she remembered the school but noted that many people were unaware of its existence and of the abilities of its students.
The team was particularly encouraged, she said, to learn that the students had recently competed against peers without hearing impairments and won.
“Imagine how much more these students will do with a better learning area and better opportunities,” she said, stressing that children living with disabilities deserved the same attention and opportunities as others.
She said BRIDGEit had initially planned only to engage and encourage the students, but discovered pressing infrastructure needs during its interaction with the school management. The intervention then expanded to cover leaking roofs and restrooms for a section of the school that previously had none.
Oluwapelumi also disclosed that the school’s ICT room still has obsolete laptops, despite the students’ proven capacity to learn and innovate. She cited a recent training in which they learnt to make electronic gloves, describing their performance as an indication of what they could achieve with the right technology and support.
The safety component was prompted by the experience of a student, Exodus Okon, who was involved in an accident after he could not hear an approaching bus and the driver was unaware of his hearing impairment.
The new road signs, she said, are meant to increase motorists’ awareness that persons living with disabilities also use the roads.
The Secretary to Surulere Local Government, Kehinde Agoro, commended BRIDGEit for complementing government efforts, saying government alone could not meet all the infrastructure and social needs of the community.
He urged businesses in Surulere to identify needs in their immediate communities and channel their CSR resources towards them.
Agoro also highlighted the disparity between public and private primary education in the local government and called for more interventions to bridge the gap.
“We are willing and ready to partner with organisations within the local government to address these local needs for primary schools and other basic amenities,” he said.
The Baale of Obele-Odan, High Chief Shittu Ademola Onimole, also urged more businesses and residents to support public schools across Surulere.
A traditional ruler for about 15 years, he described the intervention as exceptional, particularly because it focused on children with hearing impairment.
The school’s Principal, Mrs Elizabeth Oluwayemisi Popoola, said the project had significantly improved the learning environment.
She explained that leaking roofs previously disrupted lessons whenever it rained, while students in upstairs classrooms had to go downstairs to use the old restrooms.
The new facilities, she said, would reduce distractions, improve accessibility and create a more conducive environment for learning.
For parents, however, the intervention has also highlighted the students’ longer-term needs. Meseire Adugosi, whose daughter has attended the school for six years and is now in Basic 6, expressed appreciation but appealed for a school bus and a secondary school annex.
She said the transition from a specialised primary school to an inclusive secondary school remains a major concern for parents.
