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Hundreds of thousands of pupils in primary education in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America will take part in the annual action 'We ring the bell’ on March 12.

By doing this, they seek attention for the right to education of children with disabilities, who are not able to go to school. The Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters Prep/JSS in Namong in Offinso in the Ashanti region will also be heard on this day of action.

The activity will be carried out worldwide in the same way: school children with and without disabilities will make a tremendous racket together for one minute, with things like bells and drums, in their schoolyards.

They hope to attract the attention of policy-makers and others who are in a position to eliminate the barriers that prevent children with disabilities from going to school.

‘We ring the bell' is an initiative of the Dutch Liliane Foundation, based in the Netherlands, is working in partnership with the Samuel Wellington Botwey (SWEB) Foundation based in Accra Ghana. SWEB supports the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters to offer rehab services to children with disabilities, including their education. But more is needed, both in our country and in the rest of the world.

Schools should - literally and figuratively – be more accessible and open to children with disabilities. Teachers and teaching materials should meet their needs, and everyone needs to realize that education is a basic right, also for every child with a disability.

World targets

In the year 2000, eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were agreed by nearly 200 members of the United Nations. One of these goals, that by 2015 every child should attend primary school, has not yet been achieved. Worldwide, more and more children (89%) go to school, but for children with disabilities, this is not the case. Only 10% of disabled children in low and middle income countries attend school, and even in the Netherlands their participation in education remains low.

‘We ring the bell’ is an annual activity, but in 2015 it is more important than ever. The United Nations is working hard on the Sustainable Development Goals, the world goals that follow on from the MDGs from 2016 onwards. The focus of the new goals should be on those who have not benefited from the Millennium Development Goals. That means especially children (and adults) with disabilities.

Their situation since 2000 has hardly improved. It is high time that this changed, and the louder the call sounds all over the world, the better it will be heard.

Signed:

David Norden Botwey
Executive Director (0246167468/0265803748)
SWEB Foundation
Accra Ghana