The impact of education in shaping lives: reflections of young people with disabilities in Ghana

Abstract

There is increasing recognition of the importance of focusing on people with disabilities (PWDs) in international efforts aimed at poverty alleviation. While universal education has been central to these efforts, the specific and additional needs of children with disabilities are often overlooked in policies and programmes. In order to gain a nuanced appreciation of the lives of young PWDs in a Ghanaian context, this paper draws on research conducted with young PWDs and their significant others in order to understand their educational journeys, employment prospects and perceptions towards disability of those around them. In addition to collecting primary data, the latest policy documents related to disability, education and employment are reviewed and statistical analysis is undertaken based on the Housing and Population Census 2010. Our research highlights the barriers facing those with disability in accessing quality education. While education was recognised as paramount to leading a better life and participants noted benefits beyond employment such as gaining self-sufficiency and social benefits, unequal educational opportunities underpin some of the reasons for the widening of gaps between those with disabilities and their non-disabled counterparts. Furthermore, while education was perceived as important for gaining employment, this was not the case in reality, as young people faced difficulties due to both physical and attitudinal barriers limiting their opportunities for economic and social participation. The paper concludes by noting that systematic changes in the policy arena are needed to enable youth with disabilities to take their rightful place in mainstream society.

Keywords:

• disability
• education
• employment
• Ghana
• youth
• poverty

Acknowledgments

This project was funded by the Department for International Development, UK as part of the larger Research Consortium on Educational Outcomes and Poverty (RECOUP).

Notes on contributors

Dr Nidhi Singal is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.

Dr Edward Mahama Salifu is a Research Associate at Associates for Change.

Ms Khadijatu Iddrisu is a Research Assistant at Associates for Change.

Dr Leslie Casley-Hayford is Director of Associates for Change based in Ghana.

Ms Helen Lundebye is Impact Officer at Camfed International.

Notes

1. As we could not find any official statistics on the percentage of students with disabilities in the total school population, we calculated this percentage by adding the enrolment numbers of students with special needs in mainstream schools (primary and JHS only) to the total number of students enrolled in special schools (which did not disaggregate by school level) and divided it by the total number enrolled in primary and JHS (which is considered ‘basic education’).

2. This includes both mainstream and special schools as the definition of a school was ‘an institution where a person receives at least four hours of education in which the emphasis was not on acquisition of vocational skills or training for trade’ (GSS 2013, xxv).

3. Denotes: Name (if not previously used)/gender/impairment/level of schooling/locality.