Pre-paid meters would not work in some institutions

Tamale, Aug. 24, GNA - The Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Special Schools (COHESS) Mrs. Immaculate Atoriya, has said the government's policy that all state institutions use the pre-paid meter would not be feasible in some institutions.

She said, for instance, the pre-paid meter system would not work in institutions such as the special schools for the deaf.

There is also the fear that monies would not be made available at the right time to such institutions to enable them purchase power since their students do not pay school fees.

Mrs. Atoriya said due to the ban on employment, the special schools were unable to employ house mothers and labourers to wash and clean the children, adding that things were becoming difficult for them to cope with.

Mrs. Atoriya said this at the 30th Annual Conference of Heads of Special Schools in Tamale on Tuesday.

She said the Conference would explore ways by which children with special needs would have maximum benefit of ICT to promote teaching and learning.

Mrs Atoriya said in this era of technological advancement and the inclusion of ICT as a core subject in the Junior High School (JHS), special needs children ought to be the first group of students government would think of in the provision of computers.

She said regrettably the first batch of lap tops were distributed and not even one special school benefited.

"If you visit any special school and you see computers they are from NGOs", she said.

Mrs Atoriya commended Child Reach, an NGO working in the Savelugu/Nanton District, for sponsoring 10 deaf Senior High School (SHS) graduates for the untrained teachers programme.

Ms. Rosemond Blay, the Director of Special Education Division of the Ghana Education Service, said most of both the teaching and non-teaching staff of the special schools were not performing satisfactorily and impressed upon the heads to ensure discipline in the schools.

She said the Division had started a national exercise to restructure staffing needs in all the schools, adding that it would be an on-going programme and asked the heads to build dossiers on their staff.

Mr. Moses Bukari Mabengba, the Northern Regional Minister, urged parents with children with disabilities not to treat them differently or hide them in their homes but should develop special interest in their education.

He also urged the district assemblies which had been selected for the establishment of assessment centers for people with disabilities to expedite action on their construction.