National Policy Forum on “Achieving Inclusive Education-Our Collective Responsibility” (on the International Day for Persons with Disability)

National Policy Forum on
“Achieving Inclusive Education-Our Collective Responsibility”
(on the International Day for Persons with Disability)

Date: 3 December 2018, Accra-Ghana

Venue: National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) Conference Room

Time: 9:00am – 2:00pm

Inclusive Education in Ghana

With fewer than 10 percent of children with disabilities in Africa attending school, the launch of the Inclusive Education Policy in Ghana in 2016 by the Ministry of Education in partnership with UNICEF, STAR Ghana and the Ghana Blind Union to increase access for these children to primary school and to design and implement inclusive education programs across the country was a major milestone in the education service delivery in Ghana. The policy launch was also a major step towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 which aims at creating quality education for all children including PWDs by 2030.

There is however little or no efforts at all made in implementing the Ghana’s inclusive education policy. Two years after its launch, The Ghana National Commission for UNESCO and National Resource Centre for Children with Disabilities (NRCCD) and partners is taking a closer look at its implementation and to provide through consensus building the development of practical solutions to achieving the expected target.

The Disability Inclusive Forum calls for urgent need for all stakeholders to come together to find an innovative way of implementing the inclusive education policy with a call for

#CollectiveActionNow for children with disabilities who are already in the mainstream education and those yet to be integrated

Purpose

1. The Forum will provide a timely opportunity for decision-makers, experts, civil society, corporations and actors in inclusive education work to have an open and in-depth discussion on challenges and opportunities in advancing disability inclusive education action in Ghana.
2. The Forum will also facilitate sharing of experiences and good practices, including by reviewing and building on lessons learned from other jurisdictions as well as existing disability-inclusive efforts at local, national and international levels.
3. The Forum will also offer an opportunity to discuss next steps in strengthening inclusive education action, including to validate a road-map for the development of system-wide standards and guidelines.
4. It will provide a great opportunity for private sector and policy makers to dialogue on creation of enabling environments to spur the implementation of the Inclusive Education Policy. This section looks at domestic resource mobilization and public-private partnerships.
5. Sharing and learning best practices of inclusive education models around the world with key selected countries as case studies.
6. We hope the DI Forum 2018 will set clear goals and time lines as to how to implement the inclusive education policy. The following are some of the objectives of the forum:

1. Expected Outcome:

The outcome of the Policy Forum will stir up public discussion but more importantly it will generate appropriate action steps with clearly defined roles on all stakeholders. The outcome will be a report, containing a summary of the discussions and recommendations. The report will be made available to the government and key institutions concerned, development partners and media. Ultimately, the forum will lead to the implementation of clear and measurable action steps with definite timelines.

2. Participants

The Policy Forum will bring together experts and practitioners from a variety of disability fields, including academia, government, and agencies; practitioners and technical experts, CSOs, corporations, donors and United Nations Systems or other national, regional and international disability organizations.

For more information, contact:

Paul Anomah-Kordieh

Co-Founder/Executive Director

National Resource Centre for Children with Disability (NRCCD)

African Rights Initiative International

Office Number +233 (0)302-545-619

Mobile: +233 (0) 20-928-4625/ +233(0)24-664-9907

Email: nrccd@riint.org / anomahkordieh@gmail.com

Kofi Kwakye Takyi

Assistant Programme Officer

The Ghana National Commission for UNESCO

Mobile: +233 (0)24-980-4921

Email: k.kwakye@unescoghana.org

Prince Williams Oduro

Founder/Executive Director

African Rights Initiative International (ARII)/Doctors in the Gap

4th Street, Institute of Local Government Avenue, East Legon

PO BOX MD 1177 | MADINA | ACCRA | GHANA

Tel: +233.302.545.619

Mob: +233.246.649.907/

www.ariint.org/ princeoduro@ariint.org