Customised ICT Centre For Akropong School Of Blind (Back page)




An Assistive Technology for Visually Impaired Information Communication Technology (ICT) centre has been inaugurated for the Akropong School for the Blind.

The GHC350, 00 projects, funded by the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), is equipped with facilities like desktop computers, note takers, uninterrupted power system (UPS), air conditioners and an embosser which helps in the printing of braille documents.

Equipment for the centre has been customised to meet the needs of the visually impaired, which include translations and talking keyboards.

The Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, who inaugurated the project, said the government was committed to distributing the national cake without discrimination.
The minister said to further equip the school to provide its students with ICT knowledge, the ministry would construct a new information centre for the school next year.
On behalf of GIFEC, he pledged 50 laptops with visually impaired supportive software to the teaching staff of the school to be delivered within 10 days. With 380 students, a little over half of which are female, lack of adequate dormitory facilities for the female students is a major challenge.

Inadequate fence around the school also means that members of the community and occasionally stray animals are a nuisance to the school.

To save the situation, the minister also pledged to contact the Ministry of Education and the GETFund to provide dormitory facilities and a wall for the school for the students to get a serene environment to learn.


He urged the school authorities not to neglect the centre to deteriorate, saying “we have a very poor maintenance culture in this country but the way you take care of our disadvantage brothers and sisters, you will extend it to the facilities”.


The Administrator/CEO of the GIFEC, Mr Kofi Attor, said besides the Akropong School for the blind, a similar facility had been completed at the Wa School for the Blind with that at Wenchi expected to be completed next year. The school, he stated, had a facility that was few on the continent.

The Headmistress of the Akropong School, Ms Mahela Narh, expressed appreciation to the government for the project, which, she stated, indicated that the school was not left out of the sharing of the national cake.



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