Plan works hard to provide all children with education in West Africa

1 December, 2011: In line with Plan’s global focus on disability and inclusion, Plan Benin has started working with a new school in Cotonou for children who are deaf, providing hearing aids for all the students in order to make learning easier.

Originally set up as an association in 2005 by students who attended the country’s first public school for the deaf, and with support from agencies including the International Francophone Agency, the school now teaches 64 students and has a preschool for younger deaf children.

The school is designed to provide suitable surroundings for the students to learn skills in commerce and business, and to be able to communicate with one another and make new friends who share the same challenges as they do. They learn very practical skills such as building furniture, making jewellery, sewing and hairdressing.

For the parents, the school provides their children with a safe environment designed to help children who are deaf to learn skills that they can use for employment in the future. “We were asked by several parents of children who are deaf to set up the school,” said William Loko-Roka, director of the centre. “The parents couldn’t keep the children at home and teach them, and other schools would not provide education for children who are deaf.”

For children who have to travel far to come to the centre, there is a dormitory of 10 beds and the students can enjoy healthy meals every day. “Our philosophy here is to not leave any children without education. That is why we do the best we can to provide them with a good school education,” William Loko-Roka tells us.

With plans in the future to extend the school, building more classrooms and a bigger dormitory, the centre hopes to be able to reach a larger number of children.  “We need to extend the school or we will not have enough space for other students who sign up for the centre each year,” William Loko-Roka explains.