‘Embrace children with special needs’
The Board Chairperson of Lower Pra Rural Bank PLC, Ms Felicia Aba Dawood
The Headmistress of Twin City Special School in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis of the Western Region, Mrs Crescentia Efua Bilson-Sai, has advised the public to embrace children with special needs and desist from stigmatising them.
She argued that stigmatisation was one major headache managers faced in integrating special needs children into the society, stressing “we should not shun them”.
Mrs Bilson Sai made this point in an interview with The Spectator last Thursday when the Lower Pra Rural Bank PLC, as part of its 40th birthday, donated assorted items to the Twin City Special School.
Mrs Bilson-Sai told The Spectator that students at the school were trained in vocational studies, including cookery and pillow making, and could be integrated into the home and function well, saying, “we can’t be managers but we can assist, and it’s a whole investment”.
She advised parents to show love to their special children and desist from dumping them at school and not visit them.
Some parents, she complained, visited their wards at school while others abandoned them.
“We need to visit them. They also need our love and affection. Most people think these children can’t do anything. We can train them to sell in the house or help in washing. Bring them to school, don’t keep them in your rooms,” Mrs Bilson-Sai added.
She expressed worry that special children were left alone roaming on the streets begging or parading funeral grounds, stating, “You will have some benefits if you treat them well.”
The headmistress said what the school needs is a dormitory block and a flour mixture to reduce the drudgery of going to the mill in town. The Board Chairperson of Lower Pra Rural Bank PLC, Ms Felicia Aba Dawood, said the donation was to show love to special children.
From Clement Adzei Boye, Sofokrom
