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:
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.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #inclusiveeducation. For more information, please contact: Shimali
Senanayake Lely
Djuhari
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