No child should be considered uneducable or otherwise excluded from education.
Enabling the Disabled Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works to support, mentor, advise families, care givers, and special educators of special needs children. In addition, advocate for better services, opportunities, and equal rights for these specially abled children. For change to take place, it is essential to voice out the truth; inform and educate society on disabilities and create awareness around the topic to minimize stigmatization, prejudice, neglect and any other negative attitudes.
The numbers tell a sad story.
15% of the world’s population live with some form of disability and of those, between 110 and 190 million range between ages 10 and 18.
Out of 100 million children with disabilities under 5 years of age, 80% live in developing countries, where the provision of pre-primary education and other basic services tends to be insufficient.
Primary school completion rates in Africa are 10 percentage points lower for girls with disabilities than for girls without disabilities. For boys, the disability gap in primary completion rates is 13 percentage points (World Banks Analysis of Disability Gaps in Educational Attainment).
3% of Ghana’s population (2010) 24,658,823 live with disabilities.
Gaps are also large for secondary education completion and children with disabilities are much more likely to never enroll in school at all. Across the board disability gaps have been steadily increasing over the last 20 years.
Low number of special needs institutions in Ghana: Roughly 1 school for the deaf, 2 schools for the blind, 9 schools for the mentally disabled, and 38 rehabilitation centers coupled with Vocational Training throughout the country.
