Benin: the executive strengthens its inclusion measures for people with disabilities

Enhanced support for schooling and mobility

The educational component is the first axis of this set of measures, with the decision to exempt 5,000 disabled students with a significant disability rate from tuition fees. This scheme benefits not only public ordinary secondary schools but also social promotion centers for the blind as well as public structures dedicated to the schooling of deaf children, thus removing a major financial barrier for families.

At the same time, the State is intensifying the provision of adapted equipment to promote the daily mobility of beneficiaries. Wheelchairs, tricycles, crutches, white canes, and walkers will thus be provided each year to support about a thousand disabled people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.

A doubled allocation for entrepreneurship and professional integration

On the economic front, the government has approved the doubling of the budget allocated to financing entrepreneurial initiatives of people with disabilities, increased from 200 to 400 million CFA francs per year. This increase in resources aims to expand the number of beneficiaries and facilitate their access to inputs, training, and technologies essential for the development of their activities.

These new provisions complement an already ongoing dynamic, marked by the distribution of equal opportunity cards, support for project leaders, and the recruitment of more than 50 people with disabilities within the public service as part of compliance with the legal quota of five percent, as well as by the extension of the age limit by five years for various administrative competitions.