Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wireko-Brobby, has proposed a name change for disability schools in the country in order to prevent the stigma associated with the current names.
He wants the current names like school for death and blind to be changed to School for Pupils with Special Needs, a name he argued would make the schools attractive.
“I think it sends a derogatory situation aligning to the name,” he contended during a disability project at the Cape Coast School for the Deaf and Blind.
The project was organised by SpreadLove Home & Abroad in collaboration with Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations.
“If it is possible, the headmaster should start discussion with stakeholders if we can have a name befitting what it does. For instance school for pupils with special needs,” Mr Wireko-Brobby proposed.
He believes it will change misconceptions of people who look down upon such schools and make the schools attractive.
The deputy minister reiterated the coordination his ministry is doing to ensure mainstream employment of PWDs.
Headmaster of the Cape Coast School for the Deaf and Blind, Setumte Ametewe, raised concern about challenges facing the school including the unfriendly environment of the school compound, and called on stakeholders to come to their aid.
Carithers Tetteh, a visually impaired law student at the University of Cape Coast encouraged the pupils with special needs not to give up on their dreams, noting that the laws of the land recognises the need to include them in national development.
President of SpreadLove, Frederick Omenako, urged stakeholders to support the organisation to execute other projects that are in the pipe line, which he said aim at championing the cause of PWDs.
The founder of SpreadLove, Spencer Kwabena Boateng Mensah, also said the organisation will continue to equip and bring on board PWDs to contribute towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Dubbed ‘No One Shall Be Left Out,’ the event supported by the Danish International Development Agency and was on the theme, ‘Mainstreaming Disability Issues: Engaging Decision Makers and Relevant Stakeholders.’
Three students with visual impairment from the National Basic Inclusive School in Cape Coast, and one with hearing impairment from the Demonstration School for the Deaf in Akuapem were awarded as best participants in the SpreadLove Disability Writing Competition.
A graduate from Brewa Vocational Institute with physical disability, also received a sewing machine, tools and amount of money to set up. Other children with visual impairment were introduced to join TV3’s Talented Kidz star, Christian Morgan, to demystify misconceptions associated with their disabilities through their talents.
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