MONROVIA: The Executive Director of the National Commission on Disabilities (NCD), Samuel S. Dean, Sr., has called on the Liberian government to amend Section 6 of the Act establishing the Ministry of Education (MOE), to allow the establishment of Bureau of Special Education within the MOE.
Mr. Dean indicated that the Bureau, if created, should be headed by an Assistant Minister, along with (3) directors.
He said his request is consistent with Section 6 of the Act establishing the Ministry of Education that calls for the establishment of the Bureau of Special Education within the ministry.
He noted that there are more qualified and experienced individuals to occupy said posts at the MOE.
He said such appointments would be based on merits- academic excellence, service, integrity, dignity and upright moral judgments and not through entitlement or political and other connections.
Mr. Dean, said one individual should be appointed from each of the main categories of disability: Blind, deaf and physically challenged and that a Special Education curriculum within the national curriculum of the MOE should be developed and delivered at every training college to accommodate and enhance the education of persons with disabilities.
Serving as guest speaker at the Liberia School for the Blind Graduation program in Virginial, outside Monrovia, the NCD Boss appealed for financial aid for compulsory and free high school education along with uniforms, smartphones and computers for all graduates with the disability community of Liberia.
He said this would go a long way in encouraging students from these schools, venturing into the unknown world.
“It is dehumanizing to see persons living with disabilities begging for tuition, allowance and computers to seek educational opportunities,” he stressed.
Speaking on the topic: “Inclusion break barriers” Mr. Dean noted that now that the MOE budget has been improved, I grieve in prayers that there is a trickle-down effect on struggling students with disabilities. May I use this occasion to call on the State Owned Enterprises and Corporations, which believe that setting up a special fund for the NCD can accomplish this feat with ease.”
He declared: “There is nothing about us, without us”.
He rhetorically asked at the graduation ceremony: “How many of you here wish to live in an excluded world; an unjust world where the blind and other persons with disabilities are fifth-class citizens; and where their only career is begging for alms for their daily bread in their county, a land endowed with an abundance of natural resources?”
He told the graduates that their fellow high school students and faculty members are aware that they are the same as every human being and with the same opportunities as others, therefore they will not only succeed but excel.
“Unfortunately, this is not always the case in Liberia, especially amongst unsensitized citizens who judge disability with a negative outlooks and promote the socially sanctioned stereotypes,” he noted.
According to him, a good example will be the recent African Child event held in Liberia where Children with disabilities, for whatever reasons, were omitted.
He pointed out that, they tried to exclude the blind students until a UNICEF lady intervened and apologized to our students to stay and become a part of the process.
“Although our wish was for them to be factored in as candidates, we had to settle for them being voters,” he said.
He noted that, their inclusion in the process broke down barriers, leading to other children with disabilities being included in extra activities.
Including their strength in the face of adversity which made them honor their diversity.
He lauded the teachers, for fanning the fire of Advocacy into the children to stand up for themselves noting that they have succeeded stressing that, their hard work of sleepless nights, painstakingly burning the insightful lamps of their fingertips with the slate and stylus and the Assistive Technologies, has lighted up this room in today’s affairs.
He also congratulated the school Administration, for their skillful manuring of the nation’s premium educational outfit, the Ministry of Education (MOE) for the inclusivity of their pupils adding that their effort made the students to earned well-deserved friends and foes, if I may add.
In closing the NCD Executive Director congratulated the Mr. Jackson Suah, Principal of the school and, faculty, and selfless employees of the Liberia School for the Blind, Ministry of Education, the Lion’s Club, delighted parents/ guidance and members of the 51th Graduating Class of the prestigious
The National Commission on Disabilities (NCD) is the Autonomous Agency established in Liberia by an Act of Legislation on November 23, 2005, and printed into Handbill by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs December 29, 2005.
