SOME 25 teachers across the country have completed initial training in sign language, as the Education Ministry widens its focus on education delivery to include all groups of learners. The training programme was organised by the Special Needs Education Unit within the Education Ministry and the Deaf Support Group.
Following the completion of the programme, four schools- two nursery and two primary- in Region 4 and Georgetown have indicated their willingness to accept learners with hearing impairment. 
Allen Neece, a Peace Corp Volunteer who is deaf, with a master’s degree in special needs education, has been working with the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) to train special school teachers to effective deliver their lessons using sign language.
The School Health Unit has also been screening early grade learners for vision and hearing impairments, and parents were trained to conduct initial screening.
Those children suspected to have problems are referred for diagnosis to the relevant health authorities.
This exercise has been extended to Region 2 and education officials are working closely with professionals at health centres in that region.
NCERD is currently offering a non-graduate course in special education for special school teachers. This programme is also open to non-special school teachers.
The Associate Degree in Education programme being offered by the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) also provides training in special needs education.
Recently, too, some teachers at the Resources Centre for the Visually Impaired in Georgetown and Wismar have completed initial training to teach Braille.
VSO volunteers with experience in special needs education have been assigned to Regions 1, 6 and 7, and training is ongoing at schools where some children have been mainstreamed.
The Education Ministry recognises the difficulty in getting some children with disabilities in schools; and in collaboration with several agencies, it is trying to get children who were not previously enrolled into schools.
In Region 1, in the Mabaruma sub-region, 10 of these children are now in school and a few teachers have been trained to tutor them.
According to the Special Education Unit, one child of the lot scored 210 marks out of 300 in her last test.
“This is a good example of collaboration with family members, as some 135 parents, grand parents and siblings are also being trained to work with the children at home,” the unit said.
The ministry intends to undertake similar activities in the Moruca sub-region and in Regions 6 and 7 this year.
Special needs education is an integral part of the Education Ministry’s 2008-2013 Strategic Plan. The ministry is working to provide an inclusive education system that enables all learners to fulfill their potential through improvement in access, adoption of relevant teaching approaches, and the establishment of support networks.
There are seven special schools in Guyana, two units for children who are visually impaired and a vocational training centre managed by the Health Ministry.
The Special Needs Education Unit is stationed at NCERD and is headed by Karen Hall.