Savelugu (N/R), Feb. 17, GNA - The Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS), a Tamale-based non-governmental organisation dedicated to supporting deprived communities and individuals, on Wednesday presented a cheque for about 7,000 Ghana cedis for management of the Savelugu School for the Deaf.

The money is to be used to improve deaf education in the school and would focus on skills training, training of parents of deaf children in sign language, monitoring programmes featuring master craftsmen and women as well as open days for communities to interact with deaf children. Mrs. Mavis Kotoka, the Administrator of RAINS who presented the cheque, said deaf education had to be supported to ensure that the affected children had needed education to be integrated into the society.

She said RAINS' values were respect for human rights and dignity, empowering the under privileged in society and collaborating with agencies to ensure that the under privileged rights were respected and taken care of. She said the Savelugu School for the Deaf had been one of RAINS' key partners in fostering the desire to be of benefit to the under-privileged in society and would do everything possible to support the school to realize its goals.

She said there was crass social and economic discrimination against inmates of the school and stressed the importance of assisting in its upkeep. Mrs. Kotoka thanked RAINS donors in the UK, HOPE for Children and Molleybrown Legacy who assisted with funds to support the school and gave the assurance that her outfit would continue to help the school. Madam Immaculata Atori said there was the wrong notion among some people in the north that deaf children were not beneficial to society, which made some parents to use the school as dumping ground of deaf children. She said deaf children from all the three northern regions were enrolled into the school and that there was the need for adequate funding so that the children would get education to be integrated into society.