GNECC launches 2014 Global Action Week
The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) launched the 2014 Global Action Week (GAW) celebration in Accra on Tuesday.
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The one-week celebration, which was on the theme: “Inclusive Education (IE),” sought to advocate the enrolment of children with mild disabilities in mainstream schools and push the ratification of the inclusive education policy in the country.
The GNECC, a civil society organisation that promotes access to quality education as a fundamental human right, is collaborating with stakeholders such as Plan Ghana International, Special Education Division of Ghana Education Service (GES) and Ghana Blind Union to mark the event, by focusing and deliberating on issues in the educational sector.
Unfriendly school infrastructure
Launching the project, the Chairperson of the Greater Accra Branch of the GNECC, Madam Judith S. Sawyerr, observed that most children with disabilities found it difficult to access quality education due to the unfriendly school infrastructure available in the country.
She also observed that inadequate washrooms and ramps for easy wheelchair movement and lifts in storey buildings forced these children to drop out of school.
According to her, these challenges had exposed the children to poverty and frustration, making some engage in criminal activities, adding that it was time the government put in enough measures to cater for the educational needs of children with special needs.
Special Education Directorate
The Director of Pre-tertiary Education of the Ministry of Education, Ms Rabiana Azara Amandi, said the ministry had established a special education directorate charged with the responsibility to implement the IE concept and practice in mainstream schools.
She said the IE concept and practice, introduced on a pilot basis and executed in 48 districts in 10 regions, would help create equal and equitable education for all children in the country.
The concept, she said, would also help to ensure gender parity and achieve a 100 per cent school attendance by children with disabilities.
Ms Amandi, therefore, appealed to stakeholders, teachers, parents and administrators to support the initiative to enable every child have access to education in the country.