Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, has described as erroneous that government has placed an embargo on recruitment into the health and educational sectors.

The misinformation, he said, has been attributed to the implementation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programmes.

He said the freezing of employment through the IMF programmes has not affected the health and educational sectors adding that recruitments in those sectors were still on-going.

Mr Iddrisu, said this when addressing a forum in Tamale on the implementation of inclusive education policy for key stakeholders of education in the Northern Region

The forum was under the theme: “Effective implementation of inclusive education policy and plan in Ghana-the role of key stakeholders”.

It was organised by the Integrated Social Development Center (ISODEC) and Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), both NGOs as part of the implementation of the Tackling Education Needs Inclusively (TENI) project.

TENI is a project being implemented by VSO and partners in five districts of the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions to address educational challenges in rural areas with funding from Comic Relief.

Mr Iddrisu urged district education and health directors to desist from recruiting staff without seeking financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance explaining that recruitment without clearance has created difficulties in salary payments.

He said the lack of financial approval before recruitment has also created a backlog of huge arrears making it financially imprudent on the part of government to maintain certain levels of recruitments.

He said the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission was currently auditing over 3,000 newly recruited staff, many of whom have questionable and fake certificates and urged the public to exercise restraint for the exercise to be completed.

Mr Iddrisu said government was considering recruiting teachers with special disabilities to ensure an effective implementation of the inclusive education policy.

Madam Agnes Gandaa, ISODEC Coordinator for Northern Ghana Programmes, said the project was a systemic one that would transform education through enrolment and retention of pupils in basic schools.

She said ISODEC as part of the implementation of the project has reached over 8,000 girls with various interventions noting that over 1,000 teachers have equally been given capacity building skills to ensure that they deliver quality teaching.

Madam Gandaa urged the government to prioritise inclusive education activities in the 26 districts of the Northern Region.

Mr Abdallah Abubakari, the Northern Regional Minister, said government was committed in tackling education at all levels adding that the region needs more assistance in terms of inclusive education.

He said children with disabilities have the right to access quality education, which was not only a responsibility on the part of government but a moral responsibility to provide quality education devoid of geographical, social and cultural barriers.