Prioritise children with special needs in governance

Accra: Ms Agnes Teiko Nyemi-Tei, Executive Director of Down Syndrome Ghana, has urged former President John Mahama and Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia to give special attention to children with special needs after the 2024 general elections.

She stated that Mr Mahama and Dr Bawumia, the flagbearers of the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party, respectively, as well as any other presidential candidate, should give priority to to the needs of children with special needs children in governance.

Ms Nyemi-Tei made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency following Dr Bawumia’s presentation of his vision ahead of his campaign launch for the 2024 general elections.

The Vice President committed to developing a nation that cared for and invested in the vulnerable, including those with disabilities, the elderly, street children, lepers, and cerebral palsy patients, in collaboration with religious institutions and the private sector.

He also stated that his government would give pr
iority to special needs, beginning with the recruitment of 1,000 special education teachers, retraining teachers to work with special needs students, and training more speech, language, occupational, and behavioural therapists.

Ms Nyemi-Tei, a mother of a child with Down syndrome, said the notion was laudable and would be ideal if teachers were properly equipped to handle children with special needs.

It was crucial because teachers usually got overwhelmed by such situations and found it challenging to give the appropriate attention and care to the children, she said.

‘What I have gathered is that teacher trainees do only one semester of special education, and that is not enough. So, this will be of assistance to the teachers. Just imagine how much they could struggle if they had to deal with about two or three children with special needs who soil themselves at the same time.

‘For the government schools, they know the policy of inclusive education but don’t know what to do with the children. I also gathere
d information that some parents just need somewhere to dump their children. So, we need to sensitise the parents as well to see the need in following up on a child admitted into a school,’ she said.

Ms Nyemi-Tei suggested that the government train and place some National Service personnel, especially those with backgrounds in psychology and social service, in such educational institutions to assist teachers.

Speaking about Dr. Bawumia’s aim to train occupational and behavioural therapists, she stated that such professionals would be extremely beneficial because they were in limited numbers and were in regional hospitals.

‘Because they are not enough, some hire the services of private therapists and those who are not able to afford end up losing their children,’ she said.

Ms Nyemi-Tei urged who ever became president after the 2024 election to make the right policies and interventions to cater for all special needs children.

‘More than 40 percent of children with Down Syndrome have cardiovascular diseases
especially hole-in-heart that need to be repaired and the least price charged at Korle-Bu is 6,000 dollars. Some even have to either travel to South Africa or India to have it repaired.

‘This is a challenge to us. Last year, five of our children with Down Syndrome died and this year, one has died already, and we are only in February. It is just heartbreaking,’ she added.

Source: Ghana News Agency