Nkoranza (B/A), Nov. 23, GNA - The Ghana Commission for United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), has been commended for propagating and implementing programmes towards the education and development of people with disabilities and special needs. Ms Rosemond Blay, Director of the Special Education Division of the Ghana Education Service (GES), said the Organsation's support to acknowledge the need to mainstream people with special needs into the educational system, was a way of reducing the stigma associated with people who are physically and intellectually challenged.

Ms Blay was addressing about 60 primary school teachers from Nkoranza township of the Nkoranza South District Directorate of Education at a two-day training workshop organised for them at Nkoranza, which was aimed at promoting inclusive education in basic schools in the area. She explained that inclusive education provides an effective platform for the education of all children including those with disabilities and special educational needs regardless of their differences in all spheres of lives.

Ms Blay said the development and implementation of the Education Strategic Plan (ESP) for 2003-2015 by the Ministry of Education necessitated the organisation of the workshop for the teachers to prepare them for the inclusive education programme so that they receive the necessary skills and knowledge in handling children with special needs. The Director of the Special Education Division said her outfit had over some period managed to enroll special education needs into the mainstream and that their challenges were also being addressed by teachers. She cited as an example how those with low vision have been equipped with devices for learning and also provided with "large print" Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) papers and extra time at such examination to address their special needs. Ms. Blay also paid a special tribute to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for funding the organisation of a three-day National Forum on Inclusive Education at Ajumako last year which has led to the expansion and extension of the inclusive Education Programme to the Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo Regions.

Mr. Seth Kwasi Nyame, Head of the Special Education Division, Headquarters, Accra, urged the teachers to create an enabling learning environment for children with special needs and the "normal ones" and develop a lesson plan that would benefit both children in order that they would develop according to their capabilities. Mr Nyame also stressed the need for teachers to critically examine their children whilst arranging them for seats in the classrooms as some of them were visually or audibly impaired so that they would not be placed at the disadvantaged positions. Mr Richard Anumbura, Nkoranza District Peripatetic Officer described the workshop as excellent for teachers to develop interest in handling children with special needs. He called on head teachers to organise regular in-service training courses for their teachers to keep them abreast with their skills and knowledge. 2