Inclusive education in Ghana remains a challenge, with children with disabilities often facing unsafe paths, uneven grounds, and inadequate classrooms. RYTHM Foundation’s continued support at two inclusive schools in Cape Coast is helping to remove these barriers — reshaping physical spaces, daily routines, parental confidence, and students’ sense of belonging.
At Aboom Special Needs School and Ghana National Inclusive School, children with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and other disabilities once faced numerous overwhelming challenges. Poor terrain, deteriorating classrooms, and limited access to water made even basic school days difficult.
Today, those barriers are steadily disappearing from both schools.
Removing Barriers at Aboom Special Needs School
“One of our biggest challenges was water,” explains Elsina Akweley Annang of our partner The ANOPA Project. “We used to rely on a 300-litre water tank that barely lasted a day, especially after activities. With RYTHM’s support, we now have a 10,000-litre polyethylene tank. It has changed everything.”
The tank now serves Aboom, a cluster of neighbouring schools, and nearly 200 households in the surrounding community — a reminder that inclusive education investments often ripple far beyond school gates!
Accessibility has changed just as much. Muddy, uneven paths are now paved walkways with landscaped areas, making it safer and easier for wheelchair users and students who need support to get around. Inside the classrooms, cracked cement floors have been replaced with tiles, leaking roofs fixed, and walls repaired and freshly painted.
“Despite the school’s small size, the needs were many and urgent,” Elsina says. “These upgrades were not cosmetic but essential for safety, hygiene, and dignity.”
For Headmistress Mary Osei, the changes are visible not just in the buildings, but in the children themselves.
“Our students genuinely enjoy coming to school now,” she says. “On Fridays especially, they are excited because of sports activities. The school is blessed with gifted athletes, and we have seen how sport builds their confidence.”
One such gifted student is Samuel Mensah, who represented Ghana at the 2023 Special Olympics in Berlin in table tennis.
“That kind of opportunity changes how children see themselves,” Mary adds. “It shows them that they belong, that their abilities matter.”
Safe Access at Ghana National Inclusive School
At Ghana National Inclusive School, which supports around 600 students, including visually impaired children, access had long been shaped by geography. The hilly terrain and poor pathways meant that during heavy rains, students slipped, fell, or stayed home entirely.
“The path leading to the school used to be dangerous,” recalls Headmistress Susanna Holdbrook. “When it rained heavily, floodwaters would block the way, and children could not attend school.”
Today, a new concrete walkway with a wheelchair accessible ramp links the school to the neighbouring dormitories where visually impaired students live. What was once a slushy, snake-infested route is now a safe, stable path students can use independently, even when it rains.
For Rafiata, a student at Ghana National, the difference is simple but profound. “The path now is very helpful,” she said. “We are happy and no longer scared.”
Additional improvements — including erosion control in the forecourt and a fully renovated computer laboratory — are helping the school manage heavy rains and expand inclusive digital learning. New computers are already on order.
Across both schools, these changes are also influencing families’ decisions.
“Some parents had stopped sending their children because access was too difficult,” Elsina notes. “Now, they are more willing to bring them back. Students who had dropped out have returned.”
Impact Beyond Infrastructure
For RYTHM and its partners, this is what impact looks like: not just better buildings, but restored trust, improved attendance, and learning spaces where children with disabilities are supported in practice, not just in principle.
With more classroom upgrades, assistive equipment, and pathway improvements ahead, the progress at Aboom and Ghana National shows what’s possible when inclusive education is shaped by the real lives of the children it serves.
