200 learners with disabilities from rehabilitation centres across Guyana are set to benefit from a new aquatic therapy pool being constructed at the Regional Special Education Needs and Disability Diagnostic and Treatment Centre.
The Centre is located at the Cyril Potter College of Education on the East Coast of Demerara.
The sod turning ceremony for the construction of the centre was held on Tuesday.
The initiative adds to the concept of related services which are needed to help learners with disabilities with their everyday living skills, said Keon Cheong, Assistant Chief Education Officer with responsibility for Special Education Needs.
The aquatic therapy will benefit learners with sensory coordination issues and provide learners who are on the spectrum with social interaction opportunities, It will also help them to develop hand-eye coordination, muscular strength and balance and posture.
The beneficiaries will come from the Unit for the Blind and Visually Impaired, The David Rose Special School, the Beterverwagting-Quamina Special Unit, the Diamond Special Needs School, the No. 8 Special Needs School and the Diagnostic and Treatment Centre.
Speaking at the sod turning ceremony, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand related that the government believes that there is a lot of work that remains to be done in the area of assisting learners with disabilities.
“I want to say to parents of special needs children, we have not forgotten you,” she said as she promised government’s input to help children with disabilities to become self-sufficient, productive adults.
The initiative is being financed by Trinidadian businessman Teddy Mohammed, the proprietor of Caribbean Educational Publishers, who has been doing business in Guyana since the 1980’s.
