Rose Ofosuhemaa Darko, the National Inclusive Education coordinator at the Special Education Division of the Ghana Education Service, is optimistic about Ghana’s efforts to improve inclusive education for children with special needs.

Speaking during the EdTech Monday segment on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mrs. Darko said the government was working to make ICT tools available to students with special needs.

“We’ve been able to secure some of these laptops and tablets to be distributed to some of these children in our schools, across the country.”

She also said the ICT support will also extend to external examinations.

“WAEC is ready to support these children to use computers to write WASSCE and BECE, and we have started doing that.”

Moving forward, Mrs. Darko urged teachers to also embrace the ICT tools to improve inclusion.

“Teachers don’t even understand or know that these children if they cannot grab pencils or pens, they can use computers to write if one finger is prepared for that.”

Also on the show, Derrick Omari, the CEO of Tech Era, called for a policy to crystalise the promise of ICT in improving the education of children with special needs.

“I am eager to hear whether the Ministry of Education or GES has a clear policy on how ICT should be deployed, especially to children with disabilities.”

“We’ve seen different countries like Rwanda implement the ICT in education policy that ensure that when we talk about ICT, no one is left behind,” he said.

EdTech Monday is an initiative of the Mastercard Foundation Regional Centre for Teaching and Learning in ICT.

This edition was on EdTech as an enabler of education for learners with disabilities.

About the Mastercard Foundation

The Mastercard Foundation works with visionary organisations to enable young people in Africa and in indigenous communities in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work.  It is one of the largest private foundations in the world with a mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion to create an inclusive and equitable world.

The Foundation was created by Mastercard in 2006 as an independent organisation with its own Board of Directors and management.

In Ghana, after more than a decade of working with the private sector and government to promote financial inclusion and education through its Scholars Program, the Mastercard Foundation launched Young Africa Works, a 10-year strategy to enable 3 million young Ghanaians, particularly young women, to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030.

Young Africa Works in Ghana aims to:

• Enable the growth of women-owned enterprises through business development services, access to finance, and access to markets.
• Enable young people to acquire skills that are needed by businesses in growing sectors of the economy, and strengthen the quality of education to prepare students for the world of work.
• Scale digital training and strengthen technology-focused employment opportunities.

EdTech Monday is one of the initiatives of the Foundation’s Regional Centre for Teaching and Learning in ICT, aimed at leveraging technology to advance teaching and learning.

About MEST

MEST offers Africa-wide technology entrepreneur training, internal seed funding, and a network of hubs providing incubation for technology startups in Africa.

Founded in Ghana in 2008, MEST provides critical skills training, funding, and support in software development, business, and communications to Africa’s tech entrepreneurs. Hubs are located in Accra, Ghana; Lagos, Nigeria; Cape Town, South Africa; and Nairobi, Kenya.

To date, MEST has trained over 500 entrepreneurs from across the continent and invested in over 80 startups across industries from SaaS and consumer internet, to eCommerce, Digital Media, Agritech, Fintech and Healthcare IT.

MEST is primarily funded by the Meltwater Foundation, the non-profit arm of Meltwater, a global leader in media intelligence and Outside Insight.