‘Children with special needs require early education’
Parents of children with special needs have been advised to send their children to school early to develop their capabilities.
Some heads of schools for children with special needs who gave the advice, expressed concerns about how the late enrolment of such children was affecting their learning capabilities, and the challenges that confronted their teachers.
The Headmaster of Gbi Special School for the intellectually disabled, Rev. Gerhadt Charles Gbekle, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, disclosed that most parents enrolled their children with such conditions in schools when they were already grown up, and that made it difficult for teachers to mould them to develop their potentials to become useful persons.
This was during the presentation of food items from the Volta Foundation, a community-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), to the Gbi Special School and the Volta School of the Deaf at Hohoe.
School at age Six
Rev. Gbekle stated, “Every child in Ghana is expected to be in school at age six and for that reason, the case of children with special needs is not different.”
“However, the problem we have here is that most parents bring their children to school between the ages of 12 and 14 when they are already matured and when this happens, it becomes difficult to help them identify their strengths and weaknesses,” he said.
Rev. Gbekle wondered why parents would continue to stay with children with these challenges when their education was free, stressing that children with special needs must be assisted early to develop their potentials.
Easy Comprehension
Rev. Gbekle said as educators, they had to teach the children in a viable manner for them to gain a better understanding of the educational concepts being presented to them. Therefore when they are young, they easily grasp it and it becomes part of them.
The Headmistress of the Volta School of the Deaf, Madam Diddy Ntim, shared similar views, saying it was even more difficult to handle matured students with hearing and speech impairment.
She observed that learning how to communicate begun in the early stages of a child’s life, and parents should, therefore, ensure that children with such conditions were brought to school early so they could learn the sign language effectively.
Madam Ntim said, “It would surprise you to know that some of these children are very good in vocational skills and educating them early would help them to identify their skills and expose them to gainful employment.”
Donation
The donation from Volta Foundation, which included bags of rice, onions, drinks and biscuits, worth GH¢ 4,000 was in response to an appeal made by the two institutions to philanthropists and organisations for support.
A representative of the NGO, Mr Francis C. Hadzah, who presented the items, stated that it was a gesture to supplement government’s efforts in providing for the less-privileged persons in the society.
According to him, the core mandate of the organisation, founded by Mr Dumegah Raymond Okudjeto, was to help the development of the region and the society.
“Though we are a small group, we have worked towards the attainment of this objective efficiently in supporting needy communities with projects which address their challenges, including water and health needs, for the past nine years.”
Rev. Gbekle thanked the foundation for heeding to their call, saying, “I am glad the foundation is from the region. It is indeed a good sign that the region is waking up to support itself.”
