The Principal of New Horizon School for special children, Vanesa Adu-Akosa has deplored the manner in which the society treats children with special disabilities, and called on Ghanaians to give such children a chance to life through acceptance, care, attention and close supervision. She told Adom News that close to 40 years of taking care of children with autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy and attention deficit hyperasity disorder (ADHD), New Horizon had learnt that with close supervision, love and care, such children could learn trades and develop skills that would make them self-dependent when they become adults. “But society tend to shun them and call them very derogatory names that kill their spirit and render them a burden on society through their childhood and adult lives,” she said. Mrs. Adu-Akosa noted that as many as 37 of the 100 students at New Horizon School have been abandoned by their families, who have refused to pay the GHC400 per term school fees for their care and educations, because “those parents consider them as hopeless and so they are not ready to invest any money in them.” “A woman in Holland has been sending GHC300 per student for 20 students every term but the parents of the beneficiaries refuse to add the additional GHC100 Ghana cedis. “We know some parents who are supporting their other children to attend expensive schools but they are not paying a pesewa to New Horizon to take care of their special children at the school,” she said. She noted that in the past, New Horizon had trained and dispatched some of the students to Fan Milk and other organisations to work as cleaners and do other menial jobs, but Ghanaian workers at those offices either shunned them or maltreated them so they returned to the school because they only felt loved within the walls of the school. “The white people within those organisations tend to treat them well but the Ghanaians do not treat them well,” she said. Mrs. Adu-Akosa said some of the students also returned home after their training to be with their families but returned to the school in no time due to the same problem. “But over here we teach them English and Mathematics at the educational section with specially designed programmes for each student, then we send them to the vocational section to learn a trade with which they can survive as adults,” she said. She said the students make baskets, tie and die, beads, table covers and other items which the school sells to generate income for their upkeep, adding that the school wants to open more shops in town to generate more money and give the students pocket money,” she said. Mrs. Adu-Akosa said the school also depended on the benevolence individuals here and abroad, and on corporate organisations to take care of the students whose ages currently range between seven and 54. Meanwhile the customer service staff of MTN Ghana has donated provisions, stationery and cash totalling GHC3,000 to mark the closure of their customer service week for 2011. Head of Customer Service at MTN Ghana, Jemima Kotei-Walsh told Adom News the funds were contributions from the customer service staff, and the presentation was one of the projects selected to say thank you to MTN’s customers and stakeholders for sticking with MTN through thick and thin over the years. The cultural troupe of the school treated their guests from MTN to a number of cultural dances and choreography.