No Child is Dull! is an incredibly revealing and useful book that is so much needed in the educational system concerning special education, and Kola has masterfully put it together in a way that is straight to the point, very easily accessible, and user-friendly. The book inculcates the principles of inclusion and how they form an integral part of the work to improve the quality of education and raise standards and expectations for Persons with Special Needs in schools across Africa. Teachers are provided with simple and effective strategies to provide adequately for Persons with Special Needs in their classes. This book also looks at how to enhance the experiences of students who have been identified as gifted and talented.

Kola has been able to articulate the main learning needs and barriers to education and has proffered very simple, yet effective strategies for teachers to employ in the classroom for Persons with Special Needs in schools across Africa. This book is equally useful for parents with children with learning needs as it lays out prescriptive support in easy steps.

This book is essential as it helps identify barriers some students face, and I particularly like how Kola identifies each learning barrier with a simple definition, and then he bullet points the five main barriers (although not exhaustive) that the identified learning barrier presents. More importantly, he comes up with five corresponding cost-effective and practical solutions on how to remove those identified barriers. This is just top-notch! No Child is Dull! is split into four main sections. 

Section A is about persons with disabilities. These are students or persons with physical and sensory impairments who, because of their condition, cannot cope with regular school/class methods and processes without formal Special Needs Education training. 

Section B relates to children and youths who are at risk. These are children of nomadic pastoral, migrant fisher folks, migrant farmers, and hunters. This includes almajiri children who, due to their lifestyles and means of livelihood, are unable to have access to the conventional educational provision/ services and therefore require special needs education and rehabilitation services to cater to their particular/peculiar needs and circumstances.

Section C focuses on gifted and talented children and youths. These are persons who possess a very high intelligence quotient and are naturally endowed with unique traits (in arts, creativity, music, leadership, intellectual precocity, psychomotor prowess, etc.) and therefore find themselves insufficiently challenged by the regular school/college/university programmes concerning pace and curricula.
Section D documents the resources available to teachers. It contains relevant resources like Individualised Education Plans (IEPs), Access Arrangements, etc., that teachers need to support students with needs.

With his sterling qualifications and vast experience – nationally and internationally – there is no better person to have put this together than Kola. As an experienced senior school leader in the UK with direct line management of the SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) department at one of his previous schools, Kola is well-versed in the principles of inclusion and access.

I believe that using this book will give teachers confidence and competence in how to support students with needs to help them make the necessary progress compared to their peers without educational needs. 

I would love to see as many schools as possible in most African countries adopt this book as their go-to guide and support when it comes to providing academic opportunities for students with various learning needs.

No child is truly dull. Practitioners, parents and guardians, social workers, and healthcare workers just need to identify the barriers in front of them and use bespoke strategies to remove those barriers. Every child would thrive once this happens.

Overall, I rate this book 10 out of 10 because Kola has not just written a book, but has started a movement. This book will help to remove the barriers and stigmatisation of persons with learning needs. Brilliant!