Rex Yankey Otoo Foundation, Ghana is legally registered as a charitable and not for profit organization, with registered Charity No. G-32 086. The first time the founders visited Ghana with their disabled child in 2009, they observed the wide gap between awareness, education and care provision for special needs children between the UK and Africa. They developed the desire and vision to provide quality Special Education, for children in Ghana. Plans were drawn to set up the Rex Yankey Otoo (REYO) Foundation and to convert their dream home into the first UK standard special needs school in Ghana. They sought the help through partnership with PADDOCK SCHOOL, an OFSTED outstanding special school in London, UK.
REYO Paddock School was thus set up to provide a high standard British and US special education to deprived children in Ghana. The school has successfully supported a lot of special needs children as well as their families across the West African region.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, REYO Paddock School was converted to a Home Education and Trainings Hub. Its now known as the REYO Paddock Training Hub
The Hub and our new REYO CENTRE aim to support schools in Ghana and across Africa, by providing a World Class Hub for training, support and bridging the gap between special education in Africa with UK and the rest of the world. Our goal is to develop a good outreach program that will create more awareness, address the issues on stigmatization and create a positive outlook on special needs. This will provide more understanding and boost the determination of the African community to work as a team in getting the best out of our special needs and vulnerable children.
From 2024, our REYO Centre started to support Mainstream and International Schools to receive the high standard UK/US special needs and Inclusive education. This is done through staff trainings and design of personalised Special Educational Needs (SEN) programs for each School’s pupils and students with additional needs.
Due to a general lack of awareness of Autism and other special needs in Africa, most teachers, healthcare professionals and caregivers do not have the expertise to work with children with complex needs and challenging behavior. Thus, individuals with additional needs do not receive the right health support to meet their needs and pupils are permanently excluded from schools. This results with a significant number of children and young people staying at home with their parents who struggle to support them.
Our REYO Centre will also be providing Workshops, Coffee Mornings as well as wellbeing sessions for Parents and caregivers. Our UK/US standard Home Program and Training for caregivers will be available from 2024.