05/10/2026
74.9% of Deaf students have been bullied. 89.3% have witnessed it. These numbers needed to be said out loud, in a room with the people who can act on them.
On 21st September, GNAD brought research straight to school leadership at a Dialogue on Innovation in Special Education, in partnership with Grand Challenges Canada. Heads of Special Schools, the Special Education Division, and the Ghana Education Service sat down with GNAD's baseline study on bullying in Deaf schools, built from surveys, focus groups, and interviews across five schools.
The hotspots are dormitories and dining halls. The drivers are communication barriers in GhSL and power imbalances among students. The gaps are real: a severe shortage of counselors, in some schools, one housemother cares for up to 300 Deaf students.
But the room didn't stop at the problem. Parent forums, online sign language courses for families, an appeal for more support staff, and ongoing sensitisation programs across schools, concrete steps, not just findings on a slide.
Bullying thrives in silence and miscommunication. This is what breaking that silence looks like.
