Inclusive education for children with disabilities can transform lives, says UNICEFNEW YORK, 6 February 2013 –
Progressive policies in inclusive education have made positive changes in the
lives of children with disabilities in Central and Eastern Europe and Central
Asia, according to UNICEF today. More
schools are welcoming first grade children with disabilities in Serbia as a
result of years of policy advocacy. Huge nationwide awareness raising campaigns
in Montenegro and strong engagement of civil society in promoting inclusion in
Armenia have led to increased public demands for inclusive schools, UNICEF said.
At a
briefing focusing on the issue of children with disabilities this week during a
meeting of UNICEF’s Executive Board in New York, other governments and donor
communities were urged to support policies that realized all children`s right
to quality education as one way to reduce inequities created by social
exclusion. Countries highlighted their
achievements to the President of the UNICEF Executive Board and Permanent
Representative of Finland to the United Nations H.E. Jarmo Viinanen, UNICEF
Executive Director Anthony Lake, Regional Director for Central and Eastern
Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States Marie Pierre Poirier, and
members of UNICEF Executive Board and permanent missions from the region. Mr.
Viinanen focused on the importance of the right to education irrespective of
disabilities, colour, sex, language, religion or economic background. “We
cannot afford leaving any child outside schools. Every child must have an equal
right to basic education,” he said. He
shared some Finnish experiences in education with the audience: ”In Finland
basic education is completely free of charge including also school meals and
materials, health care and commuting. The aim is that all children including
children with disabilities could attend the same schools. The school network is
regionally extensive and a lot of emphasis has been given to the quality
training of motivated teachers. Qualified teachers are instrumental to
successful inclusive education.” “The examples shown today clearly
demonstrate that we know how to make schools welcoming for children with
disabilities. But much more needs to be done. Current policies common across
many countries mean that children with disabilities are often hidden behind
closed doors,” said Ms. Poirier of UNICEF. “They endure stigma instead of
discovering their talents. They are left out of birth registers and become
invisible. And even when children with disabilities have access to education,
they are excluded from regular schools or often segregated in special schools,
away from their families and communities,” she said. The key achievements cited at the
briefing included: · Minister
of Education, Science and Technological Development from Serbia, Dr. Zarko
Obradovic described innovations such as
the Network for Inclusive Education where the government and over 50 teachers,
school psychologists, pedagogues and the members of national civil society
groups work together with the National Monitoring Framework that tracks
progress in reducing inequities in education. Some 15,000 teachers, or a fifth
of the total, have now been trained. A third of Serbian primary schools
increased enrolment of children with disabilities into the first grade in 2010.
· The Permanent Representative of Armenia,
H.E. Garen Nazarian, speaking on behalf of the government focused
on the importance of making a strategic shift from grassroots school-level work
to a comprehensive policy effort, including the transformation of special
schools.
In particular, Mr. Nazarian
mentioned that Armenia has made tangible
progress in ensuring the rights of children with disabilities, especially in
the area of education. Today 1700
children with disabilities are studying in close to 100 inclusive schools and
this number will increase with the adoption of amendments to the Law on
Education currently being discussed by the National Assembly of Armenia.
Among
challenges Mr. Nazarian emphasized high poverty
rates among children with disabilities, lack of comprehensive services as well
as stereotypes and discrimination towards persons with disabilities, including
children, and their ability to become full-fledged members of the community.
· Deputy
Minister of Education and Sports from Montenegro, Ms. Vesna Vucurovic outlined
a three-year advocacy campaign reaching 80 per cent of the population. One in
four people surveyed said they had changed their behaviour and are now more accepting
that children with disabilities are included in mainstream schools and society.
UNICEF welcomed greater focus by the
donor community on more inclusive assistance programmes, which in the area of
inclusive education and children with disabilities was currently being led by
the Government of Australia.
The
2011 World Disability Report estimated the number of children with disabilities
at 5.1 per cent of the population. This means about 93 million children in the
world and about 5.1 million in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
However, these figures only represent very gross estimates and should be
treated with caution. In most cases, the underlying national data should be
improved in quality and collected using up-to-date definitions and consistent
methods to provide a reliable picture. Children
continue to remain invisible whether they are excluded from education, or
segregated within the mainstream or make up the more than 600,000 children in
institutions, which is still a common approach in many countries of the region. A UNICEF paper The Right of
Children with Disabilities to Education: A Rights-Based Approach to Inclusive
Education was presented at
the briefing detailing how inclusive education promotes tolerance and equal
participation in society. It leads to better learning outcomes, not only for
children with disabilities but for all children. It is central to the
achievement of high quality education for all learners, reducing inequities and
building more inclusive societies. All students, including children
with disabilities, require individualized services and approaches to learning.
Inclusive education does not require special schools, specialized care,
expensive materials or highly technical expertise.
UNICEF is working with governments
to support families to prevent separation; end placement of children in
large-scale institutions; as well as provide quality inclusive education.
Inclusive education means each and every child – with or without disability,
rich or poor, regardless of gender, ethnic, religious, cultural origins – is
able to attend a neighbourhood school, which fully nurtures every child's
potential.
For more
information, please contact: Emil
Sahakyan – Communication Officer, UNICEF Armenia Tel,: +374 10 52 35 46, 56 64 97 (113); (mob) +374
91 20 38 21 E-mail: esahakyan@unicef.org
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