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Chairman of the Federation of Persons with Disabilities (FPWDs) in Ada East in the greater Accra region, Ebenezer Ayiku Akuaku Anderson, has expressed gratitude over the government’s intention to ensure free tertiary education for PWDs.
He described the initiative as timely and an opportunity to help them to excel academically.
He said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in reaction to the State of the Nation’s Address (SONA) delivered by the president.
President John Dramani Mahama, during the SONA, reiterated his commitment to ensuring that individuals living with disabilities receive free tertiary education.
The President also threw his support behind a proposed Private Member’s Bill seeking to mandate a minimum five per cent employment quota for PWDs in public and private sector institutions across Ghana.
Mr. Anderson, who also doubles as the assembly member for the Lomobiawer Electoral Area, said it was difficult for some PWDs to access the premises of some universities, workplaces, and some public edifices, making the PWDs feel discriminated against.
He said reserving five per cent employment slots for PWDs was in line with the constitution of Ghana and urged the government to fast-track the policy to relieve the PWDs’ family of the unemployment burden.
He appealed to the government to make basic and secondary education free for PWDs as being done for the tertiary, explaining that it would go a long way to encourage them and parents of PWDs to get education for their children to upgrade themselves.
He also appealed to the tertiary institutions to provide logistics to make the schools and the environments disability-friendly for the PWD community.
GNA
