The Ghana Education Service (GES) has launched a manual on inclusive education. Titled “Changing perspectives: Inclusive schools in inclusive communities”, the manual chronicles modern ways of tutoring and attending to the needs of special children.
It will also serve as a complete guide for the training of teachers and the teaching of special children.
The manual forms part of the four objectives of the Ministry of Education’s inclusive education (IE) policy funded by the World Bank.
It involves the transformation of special institutions and assessment centres into resource centres to provide services in the areas of assessment of children, training of mainstream teachers to manage diverse classrooms through consultation, and the use of appropriate equipment and materials in teaching and learning.
The manual, which was launched at a ceremony at the Dzorwulu Special School in Accra yesterday, was attended by representatives of the Minister of Education and the Ghana Education Service, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD), the Conference of Heads of Special Schools (COHESS), the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) and the World Bank.
Importance
A Deputy Director-General of the GES, Dr Kwabena B. Tandoh, said the book contained a holistic view of inclusive education in line with the government‘s policy which made it relevant to teachers and other stakeholders.
“It focuses on putting the issues of children with special needs on the development agenda of the country and also includes strategies to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal Four,” he added.
Dr Tandoh further said that the GES was implementing a universal design of new facilities to support students with poor needs.
The Technical Advisor for Pre-Tertiary Education at the Education Ministry, Sheila Naa Boamah, said her outfit had over the years improved on structures and policies that supported the inclusivity and access to education for people with disability.
“If we put our voices behind issues of integration and support people with disabilities and special needs we can surely achieve our objectives,” she added.
Commitment
A Senior Education Specialist at the World Bank, Eunice Yaa Ackwerh, expressed the organisation’s commitment in advocating inclusive education in the country.
Going forward, she said the bank, UNICEF and other development partners hoped that the manual would provide an important guide and practical use of teaching to aid persons with disabilities.
In a speech read on her behalf, the Chief of Education, UNICEF Ghana, Tara O’Connell, also called on stakeholders to work together to promote inclusive societies to help build stronger inclusive schools and communities in the country.
“As the government initiates and reviews the IE policy, we will encourage all stakeholders to support the policy, system and practice levels to help realise the country’s commitment towards the attainment of SDG Four,” she added.
Source: Graphic Online
