Despite response to appeal…
THE appeal, by the Special Needs Education Unit at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), for persons to communicate their requirements has not met expectations, the National Coordinator, Ms. Karen Hall said.

The call was made earlier this month, through NCERD and the contact telephone contact number was given as 227-2865.

It was in keeping with a larger undertaking to enhance efforts for coordinating support for targeted children.

Hall said some parents did respond and the Unit was able to help them by way of different programmes NCERD offers, because the common need was for reading.

However, she expressed the hope that, in time, parents will have a better understanding of the intention and other efforts are being pursued in the interest of engaging multi-stakeholder partnership.

“We want to get more people involved,” Hall noted, pointing out that the quest is to enable the Unit to effect a paradigm shift in thinking and attitudes.

The ultimate aim, she said, is to have two teachers operating in the same classroom space with different objectives.

“One teacher will deliver the curriculum as per normal and, in so doing, the children with special needs who require additional help would be put in the charge of the special needs education teacher,” Hall explained.

She acknowledged that having two teachers in the same class is not the regular practice culture and agreed that, consequently, the adjustment will take time.

But they are targeting headteachers in awareness workshops, beginning next month, to convey the new vision.

Hall said the initiative has two-fold benefits because, in addition to making known its expectation, the Unit will also be able to get the input of teachers, from their experiences of what worked and what did not.

Knowledge
She reminded that some schools have sections for the blind and the venture will benefit from their knowledge in dealing with special needs education.

Hall said the forum with headteachers will aid the identification of children with special needs whose names will be added to a database being developed.

She said a survey, begun November last year, is accumulating the information and preliminary results can be expected within another six months.

Hall disclosed that the Bureau of Statistics, the Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Programme and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are among the stakeholders, whose participation is very important.

She said the purpose of the survey is for some level of assessment to be made, so that children in the target group can be properly placed in schools where they would develop to their full potential.

In the meantime, the Unit is determined that no child, with special needs, should be left behind but given a chance to access education, in the achievement of ‘Education for all’ project, by which the United Nations (UN) stipulates that every child has a right to learn, regardless of learning disability, Hall said.

She lauded Guyana’s thrust in that direction and said the country has taken the further step.

“The Ministry of Education Strategic Plan makes provision for special needs education but the concept of inclusive education is broader to cover the diverse backgrounds of children in the country,” Hall said, noting that, over the last decade, the Ministry has not been able to adequately address special needs education.
Ms. Karen Hall, National Coordinator for Special Needs Education.