Mabalacat Association of Persons with Disability

MANILA, Philippines – To ensure that children with disabilities will have better chances of getting access to quality education, the Department of Education (DepEd) said Monday it will plan actions that to set targets and milestones in basic education. Education Secretary Armin Luistro said that when the Philippine government gave its commitment to meet the Education For All (EFA) in the 2015 Millennium Development Goals, it also meant giving educational opportunities to those with physical disabilities. “We can only honestly say that we are on the track towards the realization of that commitment to the world if we have been able to provide education for all children of school-age with equity and accessibility,” he explained. Luistro added that this is only possible “if we have been able to deliver the appropriate education to all children regardless of their race, size, shape, color, ability or disability.” DepEd continues to push for educational reforms in basic education. One of which, said Luistro, is equipping teachers with proper competencies to better respond to the needs of their learners, “particularly the children who require special attention or those who fall under what they call children with special needs (CSN).” True to its commitment of intensifying its efforts to make EFA a reality, DepEd through the Special Education (SPED) Division of the Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE), in cooperation with the Resources for the Blind Inc. (RBI) will hold its 8th National Teachers’ Congress on Visual Impairment on Nov. 5-7 in Tagaytay City. Luistro said the congress aims to provide teacher-participants with knowledge on providing their visually impaired learners the kind of education interventions and skills for productive life. “Children are our future. Hence, we should always provide them educational programs that will promote their welfare and enhance their opportunities for a meaningful life regardless of their physical capabilities.” He added that DepEd supports children with special needs. “We should never give up on them. It is important that we act on their plight because our role to these visually-impaired students is important to make them feel that they, too, can reach their full potentials.” Luistro said DepEd has y institutionalized a specialized curriculum and developmentally-suited programs to achieve functional literacy for all CSNs through SPED-BEE. The congress aims to provide an avenue for identifying effective means and strategies to overcome pressing issues that affect the delivery of education services to school children whose eyesight have been impaired. “It will also enhance knowledge on managing programs and services for children with visual impairment in the mainstream classes,” Luistro said. It also aims to create a synergy among teachers, parents, administrators, supervisors and professionals on the sustainability and enhancement of programs and services for children with visual impairment. “Also, part of the program is to recognize exemplary performances of SPED teachers,” he revealed. Luistro said that aside from SPED and regular teachers, school administrators from both public and private schools, education supervisors in SPED at the division and regional offices, chiefs/assistant chiefs of the elementary and secondary education divisions, schools division/city superintendents and assistant schools division/city superintendents are also invited to attend. The government and non-government organizations working with children who are visually impaired were also invited. The DepEd chief commended its teachers for committing themselves to help create a difference in these children’s lives. He said that DepEd owes it to the teachers for responding to this big challenge because their dedication to best serve the visually impaired school children will spell the difference in shaping their future. “I appeal to them to carry on the faith so that students will also believe that even with their handicap, they can still excel in areas where they find much interest and they too have a big role to play in building our country,” Luistro said.

Tags: CSN, DepEd, disabilities, disability, EPA, RBI, SPED

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010 at 3:41 am and is filed under DepEd Focuses on Kids with Disabilities, NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.