Plan International Ghana, an international Non-governmental Organization (NGO), has donated Teaching and Learning Resources (TLRs) to three special schools in Wa in the Upper West Region to enhance teaching and learning activities in the schools.
The schools were the Wa Methodist School for the Blind, Wa School for the Deaf, and the St. Don Bosco Special School.
The TLRs included digital braille embossers, voice recorders, magnifiers, exercise books, sewing machines, heat generation devices, and double door refrigerators among others, valued at about $50,000.00.
Speaking at a brief ceremony at the Wa Methodist School for the Blind to hand over the items, Mr. Asum Kwarteng, the Program Manager for Plan International Ghana observed that Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) were mostly neglected in terms of formal education in society.
“If indeed these people are special in the sense that we want the world to know, then I will want to believe that the government should demonstrate that commitment by allocating more resources to that sector, but unfortunately less than 1 percent of the educational budget is allocated to that special area”, he said.
Mr Asum Kwarteng also indicated that his research indicated that less than 3 percent of the special needs children received any form of education in Ghana while the rest were denied access to education, perhaps, due to issues of culture.
He expressed regret that instead of families, society and stakeholders pulling support together for this cohort of children “rather we tend to neglect them in terms of resources allocation and other negative socio-cultural attitudes.”
He condemned that attitude towards children with special needs and called on government, families, traditional authorities, and the society to take the welfare, interest, and education of those children very seriously by proving the necessary support and encouragement for them.
That, he said, would enable the country to harness everybody's potential including the special needs people “bearing in mind that we have signed unto the SDGs at the goal of the SDGs” which required member states not to leave anyone behind their development efforts.
Rev. Grace Amoako, the Headmistress for Wa Methodist School for the Blind, expressed her profound gratitude to the Plan International Ghana for their support over the years.
He assured the benefactors of the commitment of the beneficiary institutions to putting the materials into good use to enable them inure to the maximum benefit for the children.
She observed that the impact of Plan International Ghana on the growth of the school could not be overemphasized saying “they cannot be left out so far as the successes of the Methodist school for the blind is concerned.”
She said the TLRs they had received help improve academic activities by helping to teachers and children to teach and learn effectively, help in interpretations for effective understanding and arouse the interest of the children.
Rev. Amoako expressed optimism that the NGO would continue to render it support to the school to help ameliorate its perennial challenges including the tarring of the school compound, provision of TLRs for the vocational department among others.