Ho Anglican School Special Unit Cries For Attention

The Special Needs Classes (Unit) of the Anglican School, Ho, on Monday called on the Municipal Assembly, the Municipal Directorate of Education and private enterprises to help it out of its distressed situation. The call was contained in a position paper titled �the development of special Needs Classes at the Anglican Primary School� by Voice Ghana Ho, at a meeting with officials of stakeholder state institutions and private enterprises in Ho. The Classes were established by GTZ in 2008 to prepare children with intellectual disabilities for absorption into the mainstream school system. �We would like to propose that the Ho Municipal Assembly should consider allocating budget to meet some of the needs of the school,� Voice Ghana said. The needs include E-toys, a television set, play and development CDs, furniture and painting of the classroom building, electricity and support to pay the electricity bills and vehicle to convey the children to and from school. Ms Esinam Arku, the Head of the Unit, said the four-member staff, employees of the Ghana Education Service (GES), levied themselves to keep the school going. The staff also used their own plastic chairs. She said the Unit has an enrollment of 19 pupils made up of 14 boys and five girls, one of whom has entered class one. Ms Arku said the pupils, who could do nothing when they first enrolled in the school, could now sweep, write the alphabet, identify colours, hold the chalk and cross the road. Responding to the challenges, Mr Edward Gidiglo, Ho Municipal Co-ordinating Director, said he would forward a report to the Assembly on the issue. He wondered whether the Unit has been properly absorbed by the Ghana Education Service. �I do not think the government will overlook it if the right thing is done,� he said. An official of the Municipal Education Directorate expressed surprise at the turn of events and promised to investigate the matter. Mr Tenasu Kofi Gbedema of GIFNET, Ho, applauded the teachers for ensuring that the Unit continued to function by levying themselves to keep it running.