Kumasi, Aug. 12, GNA – The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), would from the 2012/13 academic year, institute a scholarship scheme for students with disability, who gain admission into the institution.

Professor William Otoo Ellis, the Vice chancellor, said the modalities would soon be determined by the Academic Board.

He was addressing the national disability conference of the KNUST Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation Studies in Kumasi.

The initiative was a demonstration of the University’s commitment to build the competence of the disabled towards national development.

The three-day meeting is on the theme “Breaking barriers for the inclusion of persons with disability in national development.”

Issues being discussed ranges from employment and empowerment, education, recreation, health care to mobility for persons with disabilities, among others.

The progress report on the KNUST disability project would also be discussed.

Prof Ellis said the Centre, which was inaugurated last year, runs programmes for the blind and partially sighted, adding that, plans were far advanced to equip it with assistive technology to support the training of persons with other forms of disability.

He said with the passage of the Disability Act (Act 715), the task of responding appropriately to the needs of the disabled required a stronger collaboration among stakeholders.

This would help promote efforts at “breaking the barriers that prevent the total inclusion of those with disability in the national development process.”