The Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD) has called on government and stakeholders to review the current e-learning programme, and make it accessible for students with disabilities.
“I want the government to review the e-learning programme because many children with disabilities have been left out. It should be made accessible, to ensure that they benefit, if not the e-learning is nothing to the persons with disabilities who are at home.”
“And that will also mean that they are being cheated because at the end of the day the deaf, the blind and the deaf-blind will all be writing the same paper,” said Mr Juventus Duorinaah, Executive Director of the Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD), a member Association of the GFD.
Mr Duorinaah was speaking on the topic: “Impact of COVID-19 on the lives of persons with disabilities – experiences and lessons”, at a National Policy Dialogue on the Review of the Disability Act in Accra.
The dialogue, organized by the GFD in partnership with ActionAid Ghana, was aimed at soliciting inputs from relevant stakeholders to push for the review of the country’s Disability Act, to make it more inclusive and effective, MyJoyOnline reported.
In March this year, the government closed down all schools as part of measures to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Education, together with the Ministry of Communications and the Ghana Education Service, rolled out the e-learning programme, to ensure that students remained active while at home.
Mr Duorinaah said the plight of persons living with disabilities had worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with many having lost their jobs.
He urged the media to throw more light on the challenges of persons with disabilities, particularly in this period of COVID-19, to ensure that they receive the needed attention possible to mitigate their plight.
