Akropong Sch for the Blind gets braille version of Acts

The first ever braille and daisy versions of the Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560) and Juvenile Justice Act 2003 (Act 653) have been launched at the Akropong School for the Blind in Akuapem.

The event, organised by the Youth Bridge Foundation (YBF)- a youth focused non-governmental organisation with support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa(OSIWA), was aimed at creating awareness among children and young people on legal instruments that protect their rights and responsibilities.

The intervention under the project “Securing the future of young people in Ghana through improved juvenile justice” forms part of the foundation’s efforts to promote social inclusion among Persons with Disability by making available the legal instruments in accessible formats for the visually impaired.

Launching the two legal Instruments, Mrs. Comfort Asare, the Director of Juvenile Justice Administration applauded YBF for the initiative to support government in its bid to curb serious offences among young people.

She indicated that, though Persons With Disability were challenged, there was the need to empower them with the right knowledge on existing legal documents in the country.

She congratulated the management of the school for their good work and called for concerted efforts to educate the students on the laws.

Accepting the documents on behalf of the school, Mrs. Maherla Narh, the Headmistress, expressed her gratitude to YBF and called on other civil society organisations to emulate such a gesture.

In her view disability didn’t imply inability, as many visually impaired persons have risen through the ranks of the society and the nation.

She used the occasion to urge benevolent organisations to support the school with computers since most of the existing ones were not functioning.

Former students, Mr. Alex Williams- President of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) and Paul Anormah Kordieh- newscaster at ETV admonished students to study hard as there were many resources available for their development.

They expressed their appreciation to YBF for the initiative to include young Persons with Disability in the the project.

Miss Modupe Anorkplim Nukunu , the Project Officer for YBF indicated that in line with its mission to build the capacity of the youth, the foundation makes conscious efforts to make available resource materials and documents available in youth friendly formats.

She added that the project also intends to empower young people including the visually impaired, to make right choices to avoid being in conflict with the law.