The department of special education and care for gifted students at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education held a meeting with Independent school’s operators to discuss the implementation of the revised policy of integration for children with disabilities.
The integration policy requires a number of measures, on top, identification of the target group, disability cases which need integration in normal schools, identification of schools which could serve children suffering from intellectual disabilities and autism in certain geographical areas, said Hanadi Al Khater, Director of Special Education and Attentive Sponsoring.
The department in collaboration with Rua Center and Schools Affairs Department at the ministry will prepare lists with the necessary information about the children and identify schools for their integration. The first phase of the integration policy will target students with intellectual disabilities whether the disability happened because of incidents during birth or after or because of infectious diseases or disorder associated with autism, said Al Khater.
The aim is to create educational environment where the students could find all needs supporting them for learning and development as the ministry believes that whenever possible, disabled children should be taught in a normal classroom-setting, he added.
With the new guidelines, the ministry is committed to integrating children with disabilities as well as gifted students to learn in a normal classroom as all students have the right to participate in all educational experiences.
Al Khater pointed out that the registration of children with disabilities and autism disorders require comprehensive assessment to measure the level of their abilities and skills and this will be carried out by Rua Center. Selected schools will be equipped with the required facilities to accommodate the students. Schools with new buildings are preferable as they can be provided with more facilities for children with disabilities in areas of health and sport, elevators, entrances allowing free movement etc., said Al Khater.
Selected schools will be provided with specialised cadres and supporting facilities and teaching aids. The teachers will be trained on the culture of integration and how to handle the children's needs and assess their performances, she stressed.
The last stage of the integration programme will include re-assessment of the students with disabilities to assess their needs, performances within the policy guidelines.
