DO you know that the deaf and dumb can sing? Have you ever seen any of such persons or groups singing?
These two questions can be well answered if you visit a School for the Deaf. I recommend you go to the school at Kyebi, capital of the East Akyem Municipality.
Until last weekend when I visited the school to cover an assignment during which the students entertained the gathering with a religious song, I never knew that they could do that.
The occasion was the presentation of various educational and vocational materials by a citizen of Akyem Abuakwa domiciled in Germany to the school.
The students did that with the sign language and clapping of hands in such a way that one could know the song and follow the rhythm to participate in the singing.
It was indeed a mixture of excitement and sorrow as the students, both males and females in their teens, made signs, clapped their hands and nodded their heads to sing for about 10 minutes during which some of the visitors were filled with joy while others expressed sorrow.
The school, the only in the Akyem area, was established 35 years ago to provide formal education for underprivileged persons.
Before its establishment, most of such handicapped persons in the area were considered a disgrace or taboo to their families some of whom either disowned them or did not take good care of them with the notion that they were incapable of doing anything in their adulthood for themselves and their families.
The situation prompted the Abuakwa Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) to distribute them to the church members to be responsible for their domestic needs while they attended the same public schools in the area for their education.
But the difficulties they went through in the schools which had no facilities to deal with their hearing impairment coupled with the increase in their number brought to the fore the need to set up a separate and special school for them.
That resulted in the establishment of the school christened Unit School for the Deaf, Kyebi in 1975.
The school which is a co-educational institution, is of a complex nature comprising a kindergarten, primary and junior high departments and takes the infants, pupils and students through the normal courses just like any other educational institution.
One significant aspect of its programme is its vocational department which provides the students with vocational skills in various trades to make a living if any of them fails to climb the academic ladder after the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) to the senior high schools and beyond.
The school which is housed in the old structures of the erstwhile Kyebi Teacher Training College constructed over 50 years ago, currently has a student population of 245, teaching staff 19 and 27 non-teaching staff.
The institution is beset with numerous challenges such as inappropriate and inadequate classrooms and dormitories as a result of which the infants, pupils and students are crowded in such facilities.
The school also relies on a small and poorly ventilated kitchen for the preparation of meals which cannot also be served in a dining hall because it has no such facility.
There is no residential accommodation for the headmaster and the staff so they have to make do with rented chamber and hall or single room facilities in the town, making supervision of the students very difficult.
“We have a lot of challenges, especially improper and inadequate infrastructure and educational materials and we call on all and sundry for assistance to improve the lot of these unfortunate children,” Mr J.E. Asona, the Headmaster of the school, appealed.
Mr Asona also complained of lack of incentives for specially-trained teachers.
He said the only incentive he received apart from his salary was GH¢3 monthly allowance.
The headmaster, however, expressed the hope that more sustaining allowances would be offered to the teachers to boost their morale to handle the students.
It is due to these problems that the school has from time to time been appealing for assistance from organisations and well-to-do individuals but most of the time the appeal does not yield any good result.
However, a citizen of Akyem Abuakwa domiciled in Germany, Mr Kofi Asamoah, one of the few individuals who has for sometime now been assisting the school, on behalf of Bild Hilft, a Germany-based organisation, donated educational and vocational materials and Information Communication Technology (ICT) facility, all valued at 5,000 euros, to be installed in the school.
The organisation first gave out the items to Humbolt Gymnasium, a school in Potsdam, Germany, which in turn donated it to the Kyebi School for the Deaf.
Making the presentation at the ceremony attended by the East Akyem Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Simon Peter Asirifi and the Gyasehene of Kyebi Barima Darko Ampem, and his elders, Mr Asamoah gave the assurance that he would continue to assist the school.
Both Mr Asirifi and Barima Darko Ampem expressed their appreciation to the donors and also gave the assurance that their outfits would support the school to better cater for the pupils and students.
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