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Teaching students with disabilities is sometimes “a thankless task”
– Education Official
Delivering special needs education is sometimes a thankless task. This assertion was on Wednesday made by Chief Planning Officer within the Ministry of Education, Ms. Evelyn Hamilton.
Chief Planning Officer, Ms. Evelyn Hamilton
Moreover, Hamilton, in complimenting the instructors of students with disabilities, said “I am always grateful to those teachers who are willing to work with children with disabilities because it is not an easy task. It is sometimes a thankless task; it is not something that they are paid particularly well to do.”
In fact the Chief Planning Officer shared her conviction that “every single child deserves a quality education.” In so announcing she highlighted that the world currently has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that have replaced the United Nations’ declared Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which are geared at transforming the whole world. Number Four of the SDGs is one that speaks specifically to the need to ensure inclusive and quality education for all even as lifelong learning is promoted.
During the latter part of last year, at a world forum on education in South Korea that was attended by some 200 countries, a statement emerged that inclusion and equity in and through education is the cornerstone of a transformative agenda. Moreover, Hamilton noted that the countries that attended the forum in South Korea (including Guyana) committed to addressing all forms of exclusion and marginalisation, disparities and inequalities in access, participation and learning outcomes.
Hamilton therefore emphasised that “no education target should be considered met unless it is met by all. We therefore commit to making the necessary changes in education policies and focusing our efforts on the most disadvantaged, especially those with disabilities, to ensure that no one is left behind,” said Hamilton.
And according to her too, “I think in the Ministry of Education we have recognised this in our 2014-2018 (Strategic) Plan. One of the outcomes that we have set for ourselves, an indicator of it, is the percentage of students with special education needs who meet the standards of each grade.”
But Hamilton underscored that “in the Ministry we are now convinced that students with disabilities can meet the national standard for each grade.”
She, however, noted that in order for children with disabilities to reach the recommended standards, there are measures that must be implemented within the Ministry of Education including the facilities, equipment and the trained teachers. Added to this, she stressed that support from many organisations must be forthcoming.
The Chief Planning Officer’s disclosure was forthcoming even as she addressed a forum to launch a Deaf Curriculum at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) on Wednesday.
It was then that she emphasised that in the Ministry’s operational plan for Special Education Needs, efforts are made to direct particular focus on the importance of collaboration with organisations.
In that context, she acknowledged the Ministry’s collaboration with the Deaf Association of Guyana (DAG) in the delivery of deaf education. According to her, “the Ministry values that collaboration and hopes that in the future it will be strengthened…the Ministry is very eager to work with organisations for persons with disability and support the work they are doing so that we can achieve the goals that we have set ourselves.”
Another key supporter of the Ministry’s effort to deliver inclusive education has been the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF). “They have given us funds to work with the blind, they have given us funds to work with the deaf,” related Hamilton, as she pointed out the crucial role of workshops which commenced on Wednesday at NCERD for instructors and assistant instructors of deaf education following the launch of the curriculum.
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