The following post was written by POA Online Volunteer Farida N. Bedwei

The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) recently announced that from next academic year, it would be offering degree courses in disability studies as well as rehabilitation and development programmes.

These new courses were introduced as a result of the recent approval of the Capacity Building and Community Health for the Prevention and Response to Disability Project which is being sponsored by Netherlands government, through the Netherlands Programme for the Institutional Strengthening of Post-Secondary Education and Training Capacity (NUFFIC).

These programmes were announced at a ground breaking ceremony to mark the commencement for the construction of the first phase of the KNUST Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation Studies (CEDRES) at the KNUST campus, where the programmes will be offered.

The Disability Project would include staff capacity building through Ph.D and Master of Science training and staff/student exchange programmes with some reputable universities in the Netherlands and South Africa.

Other components are short courses for disabled peoples organizations as well as collaboration research in disability issues and the subsequent creation of a credible database in Ghana and the sub-region.

KNUST is the second largest university (in terms of student population) in Ghana. Located in Kumasi,  it’s main area of concentration is science, visual and fine arts.  These new courses are a welcome addition to the intellectual framework of the country, especially with the passage of the disability bill a couple of years ago.  The society as a whole is very ignorant about disability issues and usually both physically and mentally challenged persons are lumped into one category without their individual deficiencies being identified and treated.

Hopefully, with the advent of these courses, the university would churn out persons better trained to deal with these issues and thus give those not severely challenged a semblance of a normal life.