Govt urged to establish specialised schools for children with special needs, learning disabilities

 The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Gender, Children and Social Protec­tion, Helen Adjoa Ntoso, has called for the establish­ment of specialised schools to cater for the needs of children with learn­ing disabilities across the country.

She said many residential care facilities, including children’s homes, were overwhelmed by the increasing number of children with autism, speech and hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, and other disabilities.

“We are pleading and urging the government, for what we have seen, to put up schools meant for children with learning disabilities,” she said.

Ms Ntoso made the appeal during a familiarisation tour to the Osu Children’s Home and Mother Love Orphanage Home in Accra, as well as the Royal Seed Children’s Home at Papase, Kasoa, in the Cen­tral Region yesterday.

She also raised concerns about the presence of adults, including a pregnant woman with mental health challenges, at one of the children’s homes—a situation she described as highly inappropriate and dangerous.

She ordered that the woman be relocated to a psychiatric facility within a week, directing the De­partment of Social Welfare to take immediate action.

“This place is meant for children. These caregivers are not doctors or nurses. They are doing their best out of humanitarian concern, but they are not equipped to handle adults with mental health issues,” she stated.

At the Osu Children’s Home, the Home Manager, Mr Reindorf Dartey, gave a sobering account of the facility’s dire situation.

He revealed that the home re­ceived only GH¢16,000 in govern­ment support for the entire year of 2024, despite operating on a month­ly budget of over GH¢120,000.

While the Home continues to receive donations from well-meaning individuals and organisations, the flow of these contributions, he said were inconsistent and unreliable.

He expressed deep concern about the growing number of children with special needs—52 out of the 132 children currently at the facility—saying the facility was never designed to care for children with such complex conditions.

Mr Dartey warned that without urgent government intervention, the burden on residential care facilities would become unsustainable.

“Every month, we get calls from desperate mothers of children with special needs. They want to work but have no support system,” he said.

He added that the Home cur­rently has 78 staff members, but the number of caregivers remains inadequate, with just two assigned to 25 to 30 children per shift.

Mr Dartey appealed to the government and stakeholders not only to increase funding and provide training for caregivers but also to enforce the proper reintegration of children with their families where possible, in line with Ghana’s dein­stitutionalisation policy.

 BY STEPHANIE

BIRIKORANG

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