ADVANCING THE BETTER GHANA AGENDA....Government to create 2,500 jobs for PWDs

Story by Raphael Apetorgbor

Government has announced plans to provide 2,500 permanent jobs to Persons with Disabilities (PWDS) under the basic school computerization project.

The jobs will be created through a partnership with the Ministry of Education where PWDs will be attached to schools to assist in technical challenges like repairs and teaching.

The transform partnership will also be supported by Ghana’s leading Information Communication Technology giant RLG which had agreed to offer employment to an additional 2,500 PWDs as part of government’s interventions to integrate PWDs into society and make them economically useful and independent.

This was contained in a speech read on behalf of the out-going Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, Eric Opoku during a graduation ceremony of 2,100 PWDs from the northern sector.

He said government took a decision that no segment of the population should be left behind in this era of ICT, hence Cabinet gave approval for the rolling out of this initiative, the first of its kind, and specifically tailored at PWDs.

Mr Opoku therefore urged them to take good care of the tools by putting them into good use for their own benefits and others in their respective communities.

The Executive Secretary of the National Council on Persons with Disability (NCPD), Max Vardon reminded beneficiaries that the training programme was meant to promote and support them for the socio-economic transformation of their lives.

He emphasized that the journey to enhance their lives had started with their graduation where “each of them was expected to take ownership of the challenge of deploying the training and tools they had received for their own advantage and survival.

Mr Vardon said that could be realized in either manufacturing products, supporting school ICT departments or providing value-added business services to their communities.

The Chief Executive Officer of RLG, Mr Roland Agambire in an address read for him by Isaac Appiah, Head of Training, RLG Communications, said the six months training was intensive.

He said beneficiaries were taken through a lot of subject areas including hardware, software, entrepreneurship, repair and assembling of mobile phones and computers and expressed the hope that they would effectively apply the lessons learnt to make life meaningful to themselves, their families and communities.

Mr Agambire said the second phase of the project was on-going with the training of 10,000 PWDs nationwide and indicated the continuous desire of RLG to partner government to alleviate the plight of all socially-disadvantaged persons in the society.

Participants were from the Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions who had successfully undergone six months Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training.

The RLG Institute of Technology began the first phase of the project to train 5000 PWDs nationwide with ICT knowledge and skills.

The southern sector beneficiaries, comprising 2,500 PWDs from the Greater Accra, Volta, Eastern, Western and Central regions, graduated in September 2012 in Accra.

Each beneficiary was given a certificate and a set of tools and kits comprising magnifying lens, a set of screw drivers, rework station and tweezers free of charge to facilitate the setting-up their own businesses for economic gains.