PAY ATTENTION TO NEEDS OF DISADVANTAGED IN SOCIETY (PAGE 21, OCT 21)

THE Board Chairman of the Akropong School for the Blind, Osahene Kwesi Ofei Agyeman IV, has passionately appealed to corporate bodies and well-to-do individuals to pay more attention to the needs of the physically-challenged and the disadvantaged in society.
Such commitment, he said, would enable such people to feel part of society to enable them to develop their potential and contribute their quota to national development.
“There comes a time in the life of every nation to pay serious attention to the needs of the blind, the deaf and mental patients whose welfare must be taken care of not only by the government but also all corporate bodies and responsible individuals”, he stated.
Osahene Agyeman was speaking at the inauguration and handing over of two school phone booths donated by Vodafone Ghana to the School for the Blind at Akropong.
The booths have the functions of a standard mobile phone and would enable the students not only to make and receive calls, but to also to send text messages.
As part of the initiative, Vodafone also freely gave out 600 chips to the students to enable them to access the facility.
Osahene Agyeman, who is also the Krontihene of Akuapem, said in the past, persons with disability were mostly left to their parents to cater for their needs without any support from society.
The unfortunate situation, he said, left many physically-challenged persons “isolated, neglected and marginalised to the detriment of their mental, physical and emotional development”.
Osahene Agyeman added that the unhealthy attitude of society could be reversed if “corporate bodies and able bodied persons recognised their responsibility towards the unfortunate ones in society and lend them a helping hand”.
He, therefore, commended Vodafone for its commitment to make the underprivileged and handicapped also enjoy what “an enlightened society has to offer everybody, including the physically-challenged”.
For his part, the Head of Internal Communications of Vodafone Ghana, Mr Isaac Abraham, said since communication had become very crucial in the lives of the people today, his outfit decided to take advantage of the Ghana Education Service policy, which did not allow students to use mobile phones on campuses, to introduce the school boots to the students.
According to him, Vodafone had committed US$2,650,000 to the project, bringing to 941 the number of boots provided for 300 schools across the country.
“The project, identified as Vodafone corporate social responsibility, was initiated to provide global accessibility to basic telephony in schools, where students are not allowed to handle mobile phones while in school”, he stated.