Workbook final

Government must also make early childhood education free, compulsory and accessible for all children including

those with special educational needs; has to establish therapeutic centres for infants and young children with

disabilities to receive appropriate early stimulation and intervention services; has to ensure that second cycle

schools progressively adapt their environments, according to the universal design principle, as well as their

curriculum, and have well equipped resource centres to support all students including those with special

educational needs; and asks the National Accreditation Board to ensure that all tertiary institutions adhere to the

principle of universal design for learning. Concerning monitoring and evaluation, the policy demands all

decentralized institutions to include inclusive education issues in their planning documents; the same should be

done at the central level, including Education Management Information System (EMIS). Annually this should be

reviewed.

Financing parameters are presented in Section five: The policy recommends different sources of financing, foremost

the Government of Ghana, which has to take the lead role and which could then draw on resources from

development partners, local NGOs, CSOs, private sector, corporate institutions and philanthropists. The Policy

enjoins the Government to ensure that a proportion of the national revenue is set aside annually to fund the

implementation, with contributions from different ministries (Health, Transport, Gender, Children and Social

Protection) sharing the costs. It also goes into depth of potential contributions that could for instance district

assemblies and other stakeholders provide.

With regards to Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E), an M&E tool has been developed and is being piloted in various

districts to monitor the implementation of the policy. The tool will review in how far inclusive approaches have been

carried out effectively and efficiently, and as well screen whether they provided the maximum benefit to persons with

disabilities. Later on another tool will be developed just for the monitoring of the standards and guidelines, which are

yet to be approved. The policy itself will be reviewed every five years to ensure that sections are amended for efficient

practice of Inclusive Education in Ghana.

NNOVATION

In general, the Inclusive Education approach is better compared to other forms of education, especially because schools

with an inclusive orientation are the most effective means to combat discriminatory attitudes against learners with

disabilities, to provide effective education for majority of children, and ultimately to improve the cost-effectiveness of

the entire educational system. Inclusive education focuses on changing the system to fit the learner, rather than

changing the learner to fit the system. It is broader than schooling as it includes the home, community, non-formal and

informal systems in the whole process of education. Ghana’s Inclusive Education Policy works well in a low-income

context, because it addresses the following three important aspects:

1. Parents and communities are sensitised on changing attitudes that are detrimental to the well-being of learners from

poor background, from minority, linguistic, religious or ethnic groups, children with disabilities and others who are

marginalised.