More than 10,000 children with special educational needs (SENs) study at kindergartens and general schools. Even if progress has been made in ensuring the right to education of the children with disabilities, the resistance on the part of teachers, children and parents remains a challenge. A national conference centering on inclusive education was staged by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, UNICEF Moldova and the Alliance of Active NGOs in the Field of Social Protection of Family and Child in Chisinau on December 5, IPN reports.
Valentin Crudu, head of the Ministry’s Preuniversity Education Division, said popularization, mobilization and social responsibility campaigns are needed. The mechanism for identifying children with disabilities and the early intervention methods should be improved. To overcome the problem of insufficiency of resources for developing the educational inclusion services, the authorities aim to promote the financing per child in preschool education, with adjustment coefficients for the inclusion of children with disabilities.
Valentin Crudu also said the institutional and professional capacities for dealing with particular types of special needs, such as sensorial deficiencies or serious behavioral disorders, are deficient. The implementation of the third stage of the national program EI and the validation of practices and models tested at the previous stages are the objectives for the next period.
UNICEF Representative to Moldova Desiree Jongsma said the country made considerable progress during the past few years and this is welcome given that education is important for every child and the whole society gains as a result. However, teachers’ capacities for ensuring educational inclusion should be continuously improved. Work should be done with the parents so as to help them realize how important the inclusion of children with SENs is. Improving infrastructure in education institutions by building ramps and as regards water, sanitation is as important.
Olga Guzun, manager of the PR and Fundraising Department of the Center “SosAutism”, who is the mother of an autistic second grader who attends a Chisinau school, said the boy goes to classes with a person whom they pay to accompany their son because the support teacher at the school does not effectively manage to devote the necessary attention to the five children in his charge. The school has been inclusive for many years, but the law says a teacher is assigned for serious cases, while a support teacher for ten less serious cases. Experience shows measures should be taken to improve the skills of teachers who work with students with SENs. If these children are autistic, they are very different and need an individual approach.
The Inclusive Education Gala 2018 will be held as part of the conference.
