Training teachers is key to helping children with disabilities says British charity
Teachers and learning
Thomas Palmer,聽International Policy and Campaigns Officer for聽Leonard Cheshire Disability, tells how the UK-based charity supports people around the world with physical and learning disabilities to fulfil their potential and live the lives they choose.
Kazi Mahamuda Parvin at her school in Bangladesh Picture: Leonard Cheshire Disability
The challenges facing children with disabilities in accessing quality education were a striking finding of this year国产视频檚 UNESCO国产视频檚 Education For All Global Monitoring Report (GMR).
Launched in February, the comprehensive and highly regarded GMR has, for the first time, highlighted issues affecting children with disabilities.
The report gave recognition to the challenges that children with disabilities face, both with being admitted to school in the first place and, for those admitted, with getting the support they need in school.
It国产视频檚 clear that, if children with intellectual disabilities are ignored, we will not succeed in getting all of the remaining 57 million without an education into school and learning 国产视频 and the Millennium Development Goal of Universal Primary Education will not be reached.
Leonard Cheshire Disability regularly encounters these challenges 国产视频 and聽the importance of supporting teachers in addressing them 国产视频 in our education work, which so far has helped more than 10,000 disabled children in Africa and Asia receive a quality education.
One teacher who can testify to this is Kazi Mahamuda Parvin, an assistant teacher at Shakamachha Bazar Government Primary School in Bangladesh.聽
She went through LCD国产视频檚 Inclusive Education training. Parvin admitted: 国产视频淏efore that I had a very limited idea about how to teach disabled children.
国产视频淟ike many other teachers, I used to think that the presence of children with disabilities might hamper the overall learning environment in the class.
国产视频淚 had never received training on Braille or sign language. The day-long training on each of them organised by the project has really helped me and my colleagues to teach children with disabilities.国产视频
Parvin now takes care of 16 children with disabilities in her school 国产视频 14 of whom were involved in the annual school sports competition.
In Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, Leonard Cheshire has helped train more than 3000 teachers like Parvin on the accommodation of children with disabilities in their classes.
However, it is clear that this type of work needs to be scaled up if we are to make the recommendations of the report a reality for all children with disabilities without primary education:
- The right teachers must be selected to reflect the diversity of the children they will teach
- Teachers must be trained to support the weakest learners
- The best teachers should be assigned to teach where the most challenges exist
- Governments must provide teachers with incentives to encourage them to ensure all children are learning
Leonard Cheshire Disability国产视频檚 work with Parvin is one example of the impact that can be made in changing attitudes and making disabled children国产视频檚 right to education a reality.
Our inclusive education projects are proof of the GMR国产视频檚 recommendations in action, that we can address the lack of adequately trained teachers, and that we can make a decent primary school education a reality for all children.
JOIN OUR A WORLD AT SCHOOL GOOGLE HANGOUT
You can learn more about how to create A World at School for children with disabilities and The Special Olympics国产视频 approach on our Google Hangout on Monday, February 23 at 11am EST/4pm UK.
David Evangelista from The Special Olympics will be joined by panellists Chernor Bah of A World at School, Rolando Villamero Jr. of the Youth Advocacy Group and Leonard Cheshire Disability.
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