SPECIAL Needs Coordinator, Ms. Karen Hall has disclosed that while there are no budgetary allocations for special needs education, between two and three children in each classroom may require that specific need. She noted that the figure could increase to five in some instances. She made the disclosure during an address to participants in the third National Consultation on Inclusive Education for Children with Special Needs, at St. Aloysius Primary School, on Garrison Road, New Amsterdam, Berbice, recently.
According to her, the Ministry of Education is continuing its screening of every child, commencing with those at the grade one level, in order to identify hearing and speech impediments. This early detection will allow the care givers to be focused on other disabilities which might develop subsequently.
She informed that the ministry intends to include children with special education needs in its programme and would be providing early assessment, from the nursery level until the completion of their education.
“A part of the plan is to build, within the inclusive programme for the child with special needs, a number of supports. Some of those supports are not provided by the Ministry of Education, so it calls for a level of collaboration,” Hall pointed out.
Chief Planning Officer in the Ministry of Education, Ms. Evelyn Hamilton had lamented that one of the weaknesses in the special education system is that it does not cater for after school.
She said that factor has resulted in many students, who have been identified as persons with special education needs, cannot access follow up programmes after completing their schooling.
Hamilton suggested that relevant authorities arrange sheltered workshops and inputs from the technical institutes.
“Within the ministry, there is an increased feeling that inclusive education may be one of the tipping points in our strive to have better quality and better results from the system, if we recognise what are the special education needs of our children,” she added.

MAJOR PILLARS
Hamilton said that, in the five-year strategic education plan, which concludes in 2013, focus is on special education needs, which is one of the major pillars on which that strategy stands. Through it, about 70 percent of schools will, eventually, be able to absorb students with special needs and give them a good quality education.
Atisaya Ally, mother of an autistic child, said there is need for a special education programme along the Corentyne Coast, because, in order to access the special needs school in New Amsterdam, she has to take a two hours journey. Consequently, finances and time, coupled with other social issues, debar her son from attending the lone such institution in Berbice.
Chairman of the Berbice Branch of the Community Based Rehabilitation Programme (CBR), Mr. Mark Adams noted that a major concern of the organisation, which is based at Port Mourant, is that it is impossible to have the students access the Centre, as the law requires that school age children be at their respective learning institutions during certain hours.
He proposed that systems be put in place to assist organisations which are willing to support the national cause.
A care giver’s husband, who did not give his name, urged that focus be placed on the safety of teachers.
However, Hamilton pointed out that, while risk allowances are provided for such teachers, she was peeved to learn, during a consultation in Georgetown, that the benefit is being taxed.
Head of the New Amsterdam Special Needs School, Ms. Zoya Crandon, in an invited comment, said she was unaware of the allowance. “We never received it,” she lamented.
During the consultation, it was discovered that many parents are too young to discern the needs of their children, especially if it is for special education.
It was advised that medical practitioners visit schools on a regular basis and, if a referral is made to the National Psychiatric Hospital, then parents should adhere to it instead of denying the child specialist treatment, because of the stigma attached to the mental health institution.