280 Disabled persons graduate from ICT training

Two hundred and eighty persons with disability (PWD) have graduated after six months intensive training in Information Communication Technology (ICT), mobile phone and laptop repairs in the Brong Ahafo Region.

The graduates were part of the 5,000 PWDs who had benefited from the government’s initiative to train 30,000 disabled persons across the country. The two-year project was to enable them to acquaint themselves with modern trends of technology as well as improve on their living conditions.

Presentations

The beneficiaries were presented with certificates and working kits which included machines that would detect mobile phone faults.

The items were donated by the First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, through the Lordina Foundation to help the graduates start work as soon as possible.

The First Lady also presented 26 automatic and manual wheel chairs, 29 carts for children, 30 white canes for the blind and sun block creams to protect albinos from the sun rays, to the various associations in the region.

Barriers 

The training offered by the RLG Institute of Technology drew  beneficiaries from Sunyani, Berekum, Techiman, Goaso and Wenchi, all in the region.

At a graduation ceremony and a durbar to receive the items, the First Lady said persons with disability had for a long time expressed their rights to participate fully in societal activities.

However, she said, misconceptions and discrimination continued to be a barrier which limited them from realising their potentials.

"Persons with disability are often faced with barriers to education and training which limit their job opportunities leading to poverty, social exclusion and restricted access to basic social amenities," she said.

Nonetheless, she said, employers could no longer doubt the capabilities of persons with disability, and added that "society must not countenance prejudice based upon disability."

"Persons with disability are not asking for our sympathy, what they demand is opportunity to realise their full potential," the First Lady said.

She said the International Convention on Rights of People with Disability had set out fundamental rights and freedoms for persons with disability.

Ghana cannot be left behind in the comity of nations, she said, and emphasised that the country needed to work with the international community on the  2015 development agenda.

Appreciation

The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Eric Opoku, thanked the First Lady for providing assistance to the graduates and machines for the disabled associations in the region.