Government
presents
vehicles
to
Special
Schools
Accra,
Dec.
21,
GNA
-
The
Government
on
Thursday
presented
37
vehicles
to
selected
special
schools
in
the
country
with
a
call
on
heads
of
such
institutions
to
do
more
to
improve
upon
the
academic
performance
of
their
students.
The
vehicles
made
up
of
12
33-seater
buses
and
25
pick-ups
would
help
to
improve
management/teaching
and
learning
in
the
schools,
which
include
the
Akropong
School
for
the
Blind,
Eastern
Region;
Yumba
Special
School
in
the
Northern
Region;
Cape
Coast
School
for
the
Deaf,
Central
Region
and
Three
Kings
Special
School
in
Volta
Region.
Papa
Owusu
Ankomah,
Minister
of
Education,
Science
and
Sports,
who
presented
the
keys
of
the
vehicles
to
the
Heads
of
the
Schools,
expressed
worry
that
less
than
one
per
cent
of
school
going-age
children
with
special
needs
had
access
to
education
in
the
country
due
to
the
attitude
of
some
parents
and
the
general
public.
He
said
most
parents
refused
to
send
their
children
with
disabilities
to
school
while
others
refused
to
provide
them
with
their
basic
needs
and
rather
spent
their
money
only
on
the
healthy
children.
"This
negative
attitude
of
some
parents
and
the
general
public
must
change
for
the
better
especially
in a
country
of
ours
which
requires
all
people
to
contribute
to
the
economic
development
of
the
nation."
He
said
the
Government
was
fully
aware
of
the
important
role
such
Special
Schools
continued
to
play
in
the
education
of
children
and
adults
with
disabilities.
It
would,
therefore,
continue
to
show
its
commitment
by
providing
the
relevant
tools
and
resources
towards
such
education.
Papa
Owusu
Ankomah
said
as a
first
step
the
infrastructural
needs
of
most
of
the
Special
Schools
were
being
met
by
way
of
renovation
of
existing
structures
and
construction
of
new
ones
including
classrooms
and
dormitories
with
funds
from
the
Ghana
Education
Trust
Fund
(GETFund).
Mr
Ankomah
also
presented
three
buses
to
the
Odorgonno
Secondary
School
in
Accra;
Mankranso
Secondary
School
in
the
Ashanti
Region
and
Busunya
Secondary
School
in
the
Brong
Ahafo
Region
for
their
commitment
to
academic
excellence
and
moral
discipline.
He
said
within
the
2007/2008
academic
year,
Government
would
allocate
not
less
than
200
vehicles
to
community-based
and
deprived
schools
that
exhibited
moral
discipline.
Mr
Henry
D.
Ahiable,
Headmaster,
Akropong
School
for
the
Blind
and
Chairman
of
the
Conference
of
Heads
of
Special
Schools,
commended
the
Government
for
the
gesture
but
asked
that
money
for
their
regular
maintenance
should
made
available.
GNA
