67 Primary School teachers attend Disability Inclusive Education workshop
22 August 2012
Sixty seven teachers from around the country are attending a three-day workshop in Suva to familiarise themselves with a pilot project to introduce Disability Inclusive Education in five primary schools across the country.
An initiative of the Ministry of Education and the Australian Government-funded Access to Quality Education Program (AQEP), the Disability Inclusive Education will be piloted at the following schools:
- South Taveuni Primary School (Northern Division)
- Tavua District School (Western Division)
- Adi Maopa Primary School (Eastern Division)
- Ratu Latianara Primary School (Central Division)
- Arya Samaj Primary School (Suva District)
Opening the workshop today, the Australian High Commission’s Counsellor AusAID, Ms Sarah Goulding, said Disability Inclusive Development is a high priority for the Australian aid program.
“We recognise that development assistance will only be effective and achieve poverty reduction if it also reaches and benefits people with disabilities,” Ms Goulding said.
“We need to be aware that around 15 percent of the world’s population – around 1 billion people – live with some form of disability and are among the poorest and most vulnerable in developing countries.”
She said Australia’s aid program is guided by its Development for All strategywhich was launched in late 2008. It aims to enhance the lives of people with disabilities as one of AusAID’s key development objectives.
“We will need to increasingly work with people with disabilities and their representative organizations on how we can be more effective in extending the benefits of our work to those most marginalized,” Ms Goulding said.
“The Development for All strategy commits the Australian Government to ensuring that people with disabilities are comprehensively included and supported in improving their quality of life through all aspects of the aid program.
“The Access to Quality Education Program is doing exactly this by working with the Ministry of Education and other education service providers to improve the ability for children from very poor communities - including those with a disability – to access a quality school education,” Ms Goulding said.
Ms Goulding also officially launched the AQEP Disability Inclusion Strategy at today’s workshop.
The strategy has been developed in broad consultation with the Ministry of Education, Disabled People’s Organisations and the country’s Special Schools. It aims to achieve three outcomes for children with disabilities in Fiji:
- Increase access to education (enrolment and retention)
- Increase retention and completion rates
- Improve learning outcomes
The key features of the AQEP Disability Inclusion Strategy include:
- Making all schools and Early Childhood Education programs physically accessible to children, teachers and volunteers with disabilities
- Making all existing Special Schools capacity development partners
- Equipping the five pilot primary schools to trial AQEP’s Inclusive Education approach
- Providing resource support to the Ministry of Education to develop a 10-year Inclusive Education Strategy
“This workshop aims to increase the collective awareness and understanding - of all stakeholders involved - of the critical roles played by principals, teachers and parents to make inclusive education a realistic possibility for all children in Fiji,” Ms Goulding said.
**ENDS**
For clarifications or further information contact: The Public Affairs Section, Australian High Commission, Suva. Tel: (679)3382211 – Ext 246 Fax: (679) 3382065