The Non-Formal Education Division (NFED) of the Ministry of Education, has with sponsorship from the World Bank organized a 10 day refresher course for 50 handicapped facilitators at Koraso, near Dormaa-Ahenkro in Brong-Ahafo. Participants comprised 30 visually impaired and 20 physically challenged persons drawn from Wenchi and Dormaa districts of the Region. The course was designed to sharpen the skills of the participants so they could effectively interact and impart knowledge to their less endowed illiterate colleagues. Speaking at the close of the workshop, Squadron Leader Benjamin Anane Asamoah (rtd), Dormaa District Chief Executive, assured them of the government’s commitment to addressing their plight. He said the District Assembly was considering the establishment of a school for the handicapped at the Dormaa Vocational Training Centre (DVTC) at Dormaa-Ahenkro, which was under-utilized due to low enrolment. The DCE urged civil society to change its negative attitude towards the handicapped and rather empower them to develop their talents so they could contribute meaningfully to national development. Mrs Agnes Addo-Mensah, NFED’s Head of Special Education and coordinator of the course announced that the refresher training was the second in a series targeted at oncho endemic regions. She explained that participants were drawn from different shades of disability to afford them the opportunity to share peculiar problems. Mrs Addo-Mensah said one basic aim of the refresher course was to remind participants of the many existing alternative sources of livelihood that they were expected to transfer to colleagues back home. The Regional coordinator of NFED, Mr Kwasi Oppong, charged the participants to aim a step higher than their physical capacity for their colleagues to emulate. “This way”, he said, “the sympathy of well-meaning individuals and cooperate groups can be won to complement government efforts at making life more meaningful for the physically-challenged”. The Dormaa District NFED coordinator, Mr Kwasi Aning-Mensah, noted that the physically challenged were saddled with peculiar social problems that required a multi-sectoral approach to resolve. He urged the facilitators to impart the knowledge they had acquired at the workshop to their less fortunate colleagues who did not have the opportunity to attend. Madam Ernestina Vuuro, a 42-year old visually impaired participant and a teacher in English language at the Wenchi Secondary School stressed that physical challenges did not render victims physically incapacitated. “Given the opportunity and the necessary support, the handicapped can perform even beyond the expectations of society”, Madam Vuuro said. GNA