By Bernice Bessey (bbessey@yahoo.com)
Inadequate support for Inclusive Education (under the Ghana Education Service) by the government and citizenry has affected the human resource capacity of the country, according to the Ghana Education Service (GES).
According to the Special Education Division, persons with disabilities are denied quality education, because just two percent of the teacher population has in-depth knowledge about children with special needs.
The situation, according to the Division, has led to lots of children with special needs left behind in education and neglected by society.
To make life meaningful to these persons, especially children, the GES, in collaboration with organisations, agencies and development partners, has initiated policies that seek to involve such children to access quality education.
The Deputy Director of the Special Education Division of GES, Thomas Patrick Krampah, in an exclusive interview the Accra File, said even though the special schools policy has existed over decades, the education service deemed it necessary in 2011 to bring all the scattered and fragmented policy items together for a review and implementation.
He said efforts to have a major policy for special education led to a week-long policy development meeting in Koforidua in the Eastern Region, in January 2012, where the Ghana Blind Union appointed three people to review outcomes of any workshop that would be held in support of the policy.
In February 2013, the Blind Union and Special People Education Development presented a draft policy to the Ministry of Education for consideration and implementation.
He said the draft policy was geared at making the mark of 100 percent school attendance by people with disability, and also to serve as a tool for quality education.
“The country cannot move forward if it fails to respect or acknowledge the right of every child to access quality education,” he said.
He noted that children excluded from enjoying quality education were also excluded from society, saying a person with disability is not a totally condemned person, and that he/she also has something to contribute towards the nation’s development.
The Deputy Director, therefore, called for support from all corners to elevate Inclusive Education in the country.
please the picture for this story is in July Accra file folder as physcial challenged students in cultural display