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INTRODUCTION
Until 1994, Education of
low vision children in Ghana was ignored. Such children either had
to go to schools for the Blind to be forced to read braille by covering
the residual sight with handkerchiefs or be left in the mainstream schools
uncared for resulting in a number of dropouts in the system. Ironically,
there was the saying among the teachers of the Blind that a child must
make use of the residual vision
The presentation will indicate
how visually impaired children are being assisted by Itinerant Teachers
using multi-disciplinary approach, existing infrastructure, parental and
community involvement to achieve the desired goal. Greater importance
is attached to proper medical and functional assessment to give individual
children the needed support.
HISTORY
At an International Conference
in Bangkok, Thailand, African group of participants at the conference realised
that Integration into the mainstream Basic Education needs to be encouraged
in Africa. Consequently, the Ghana Society for the Blind and the
Ghana Education Service organised a 3-day Education Workshop in Accra where
it was decided that the Integration of the visually Impaired Children in
the mainstream schools should be supported by the use of itinerant teachers.
As a result of this decision the Sight Savers International decided to
fund the venture through the Ghana Society for the Blind with the Special
Education giving the technical advice.
MODALITIES
The Ghana Society for the
Blind and the Ghana Education service prepared the grounds for the take
off. The following areas were found to be components of the programme:-
1. Selection of a district
close to Accra to enhance closer monitoring.
2. Identification of the
Schools closer to the identified children.
3. Clinical and functional
assessment of the visually impaired children.
4. Parental Education on
the programme.
5. Community Involvement
in the programme.
6. Selection and training
of Itinerant Teachers.
7. Training of Head-teachers
and class teachers involved in the programme.
8. Supply of materials to
be used for the programme.
9. Formation of District
Itinerant Committee to support the programme.
The above were tackled in
the following ways:-
Selection of the District
The project Officer of the
Ghana Society for the Blind and the schedule officer, Education of the
Visually Impaired Ghana Education Service were charged to look for a district
that will not be far away from Accra. Using the data prepared by
the peripatetic teachers, we first visited one district where we found
the visually impaired were all in upper classes so we moved to another
district where we were able to get as many as thirteen children in the
same day. These children had the ages ranging from three years to
ten years.
Identification of the Schools
Some of the children identified
were already in school; others had stopped going to school because of difficulty
seeing while there were others who were to start nursery and primary school.
There was the need to identify the schools and to discuss the programme
with the Head-teachers who readily embraced the idea.
Clinical and Functional
Assessment
Luckily for the programme,
ICEVI organised another workshop in Ghana for selected teachers on clinical
and Functional Assessment. We got medical officers to clinically
assess the children and the teachers offered functional assessment.
Some of the children were referred for operation while others were given
spectacles and magnifiers to enhance their reading capabilities.
Parental Education
Since parental involvement
is a very important component in the Inclusive Education, two-day seminar
to educate the parents to know the part they have to play was organised.
Community Involvement in
the Programme
A one-day seminar was held
to educate opinion leaders like District chief Executive, the District
Administrative Officer, the Regional Director of Education, the District
Director of Education, the P.T.A. Chairman, Assembly members etc.
Selection and Training of
Itinerant Teachers
The Itinerant Teachers were
selected and given a four-day workshop in their new area of operation.
They were also given some training in functional assessment.
Training of Head-teachers
and Class Teachers
A two-day seminar was held
for the Head-teachers and class teachers of the affected schools.
Later on, it was deemed imperative that the teachers in all the affected
schools be given insight into the programme. School based seminars
were organised for each school
Supply of Materials
Since integration without
back-up support makes the work difficult, the office materials to be used
by the itinerant teachers as well as their motor-bikes were provided alongside
the materials to be used by the pupils.
District Itinerant Education
Committee (DIEC)
This committee was formed
with District Director of Education as Chairman. Other members were,
a parent, a head-teacher, the Special Education Coordinator of the programme,
an elderly visually impaired, an assembly member while the Itinerant teacher
serves as the secretary.
Other Areas Needing Mention
In 1995, an internal evaluation
of the programme was carried out and the result proved a tremendous success.
In 1996, an external evaluation took place and as a result, a second district
was added while the initial programme was extended to 1999. Two initerant
teachers have been appointed and their motor-bikes and other materials
have been supplied.
Achievement of the Programme
As a result of the intervention
of the programme together with the proper assessment and the supply of
right reading lenses, some of the children are now put on "observation"
list since they can work with little or no help at all. Others who
were not interested in going to school are now very keen in going to school
and are taking active part in school activities. The number of visually
impaired enrolled continue to grow.
We are sure the programme
will be extended to other areas if there are no financial constraints.