Only UG has an office to cater for needs of hearing-impaired students – GNAD
The Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD) has revealed that the University of Ghana (UG) is the only tertiary institution that has designated a special office to cater for the welfare of students with hearing impairment.
An Advocacy Committee Member of the Association, Kakra Ankobia, noted that other public and private educational institutions do not have any such provisions, a situation he has described as worrying.
Speaking in an interview on Prime Morning on Wednesday, February 9, he said students living with the condition in such schools mostly have to bear the cost of hiring interpreters to assist them in their studies.
“At least for University of Ghana, I know that they have a special office that has sign language interpreters who assist the students who are deaf in the University but we don’t have a lot of interpreters there. You don’t have it in other universities; not all universities have that. There are some private universities that have not even thought about that.”
The @UnivofGh is the only tertiary institution in the country with a special office to cater for the needs of persons who are deaf – Kakra Ankobia, Advocacy Committee Member, Ghana National Association of the Deaf. #PrimeMorning pic.twitter.com/Bf9nkIZnwG
— Joy Prime (@JoyPrimeTV) February 9, 2022
“Sometimes, the students have to pay from their pockets, the services of an interpreter to come and sit through the lecture with them. It means that the interpreter is leaving whatever they are doing, so you need to make sure that they are well compensated after helping you to understand the whole process or whatever is happening during the lecture,” Kakra Ankobia highlighted.
He called on the state to channel more funding into the education of such students to ensure their wellbeing and educational success.
“I was looking at the Constitution and I found that the Constitution states that all children should have equal access to education. I looked at the deaf schools, and schools for persons with disability then I look at the private schools.”
“…look at the number of teachers they have. Do we have same qualified teachers teaching in schools where you have persons with disability? No! So how do we say we are giving them equal access to education?” he quizzed.
Source: Ghana News
