Special Needs Teachers Set For Cuba

Education Ministry officials and their Cuban counterparts

The government is preparing to send Ghanaian teachers to Cuba for training in Special Needs Education and Early Grade Teaching in order to enhance their expertise.

Ghana and Cuba have agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU), which would officially pave the way for some selected teachers to benefit from the programme.

As part of the package, some Cuban teachers would also visit Ghana to impart their knowledge to teachers who would not make the trip.

The Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, aka Napo, who is working to secure the package for teachers, is currently in Cuba to help finalize the deal.

“As I said, I want the Ghana Embassy in Cuba to immediately engage your office as part of our treaty or cooperation agreement,” Napo, who is also Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, told Cuba’s Minister of Education, Ena Elsa Velazquez Cobiella, in Havana during the visit.

Napo is currently in Cuba leading a high-level delegation to attend the 12th International Congress of Higher Education. His delegation comprised the Executive Secretary of NCTE, Prof. Mohammed Salifu, and Isaac N. Biney, Director of PBME at the Ministry of Education.

Ministers’ Meeting

“These two areas are key: bringing Ghanaian teachers to be trained and sending Cubans to train our teachers,” the minister emphasized. “In Ghana, we have schools that train teachers and schools that need teachers,” he added.

According to the minister, he made the trip to Cuba as a follow up to an earlier meeting where Napo had passionately requested Cuba’s support to train teachers in Special Needs Education and Early Grade Teaching.

He said Ghana and Cuba needed to form formidable cooperation in the area of education in order to help the two countries to develop their human resource base.

Napo also said he had early on held a fruitful meeting with the Cuban Higher Education Minister, and they discussed the need to deepen exchanges mostly in the area of medicine.

“Ghana’s need now is in the area of post graduate medicine such as Radiology, Pathology, Forensic, post graduate courses in Lab and Pharmacy, among others, as well as in technical and vocational areas,” he pointed out.

“Our embassy will start the discussion and let us know what Cuba can offer,” he said, adding that he was grateful for the reception given him.

Ms. Velazquez gave an assurance that Cuba was ready to assist Ghana, stressing that her country had improved the training of personnel in the field of Special Needs Education. According to her, the teaching and training of children with special needs is key to Cuba, disclosing that their system covers such children up to age 21.

“We are ready with a draft and we will be sending it to the Cuban Embassy in Ghana as we continue to work with the delegation from Ghana,” the Cuban Education Minister said, giving an assurance that “we are able to dedicate time to work on this and I assure you that they are in safe hands.”

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi