STRATEGY OF ICEVI WEST ASIA

1. First Meeting:The First Meeting of the Strategic Planning Group was held on 8th March, 2013 at Ahmedabad in which 32 representatives of CBM, Sight Savers, World Blind Union, Asian Blind Union, National Association for the Blind, Vision 2020, Daisy Forum of India, Voice & Vision, Sense International, Rehabilitation Council of India, ICEVI and other leading organization working for persons with visual impairment in India and Nepal participated in the meeting. The group evolved and adopted a Strategy for ICEVI West Asia with the following highlights:

1.1 Registration of ICEVI India:As there is no appropriate provision on registration of Regional Structures in the West Asia region, the only option shall be to get the Regional Structured registered in one of the countries in the region. As ICEVI has its Secretariat located in India; Treasurer is from India and the Regional Chairperson is also from India, it was decided to get the regional structure registered in India as a Society under the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860. For this purpose, a committee may be constituted, membership criteria may be developed and model constitution may be developed.

1.2 Involvement of International Organizations:It was decided that international organizations like Asian Blind Union, Vision 2020 the Right to Sight India, CBR Asia Pacific Forum, CBM, Sightsavers, Liliane Foundation, Perkins International, AIPB, DANIDA, Daisy Consortium, Leonard Cheshire Disability Division, Save the Children Fund, WHO Child Development of India, IBSA etc. should be actively involved as members of ICEVI West Asia.

1.3 Regional Plan:It was decided that the region should prepare a 5 Year Plan for countries within the region with emphasis on teacher orientation, teacher preparation, use of Braille Mathematics code, Early Identification and Assessment; teaching of science, Braille production; influencing policies and legislations; provision of appropriate assistive devices; and promotion of appropriate and affordable technology in the region.

2. ABU ICEVI National Seminar:The ICEVI West Asia and Asian Blind Union jointly organized a National Seminar, jointly hosted by National Federation of the Blind and Blind People's Association (India) at Ahmedabad Management Association, Ahmedabad during 11-13 March, 2016. The highlights of the seminar are given below:

  • CBM provided complete media support to the conference.
  • The complete conference was covered live on internet and also covered on Radio Udaan.
  • The participants were provided copies of all presentations on DVD, provided a complimentary copies of WHO CBR Manual in Hindi, CBR Manual and other reference material
  • The conference organized 16 concurrent sessions with 42 speakers who shared their experience and research papers with the participants.
  • The prominent speakers of the plenary sessions included Dr. MNG Mani, Ms. Sampada Shevde, Mr. A K Mittal, Ms Vibhu Sharma, Mr. YahayaSapatwala, Mr. Bharat Pardesi, Ms Dipti Karnad, Mr. P K Pincha, Mr. Santosh Rungta, Mr. Akhil Paul, Mr. Mukesh Jain, Mr. Dipendra Minocha, Mr. Sachin Razal, Mr S K Gupta, Ms Nandini Rawal, Mr. Dinesh Rana, Ms Nandita Saran, Dr. Bhushan Punani, Dr. Aloka Guha and Mr. Himangshu Das.
  • Various session chaired by leading experts including Dr. Sara Vurghese, Dr. MNG Mani, Lord Colin Low, Justice Mr. Kalpesh Jhaveri, Judge of High Court of Gujarat, Mr. Mukesh Jain, Joint Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Govt of India, Dr. Jayanti Ravi, Principal, Rural Development, Govt of Gujarat, Mr. Amer Makarem, WBU, and Sampada Shevde of Voice & Vision.
  • The seminar was inaugurated by Lord Colin Low, President of ICEVI with Mr. ArmoogemParshuraman, Former Minister, Government of Mauritius as Guest of Honour. The concluding session was chaired by Hon'ble Mr. Mohit Shah, Former Chief Justice of Mumbai High Court.
  • 416 participants from across the country and abroad participated in the seminar with representation from World Blind Union, Asian Blind Union, ICEVI, CBM, Sight Savers, Sense International, National Association for the Blind, All India Confederation of the Blind, National Federation of the Blind, Vision 2020, Perkins Voice & Vision, Liliane Fonds and other leading national and state level organizations.
  • It was recognized as Continuing Rehabilitation Education (CRE) by the Rehabilitation Council of India. The theme of the conference was "Inclusion - make it happen"

3.Revised Strategy of ICEVI West Asia Region:The organizers of the conference appointed a Resolution Committee with the following members:

  • Dr. MNG Mani, ICEVI, Chairperson
  • Mr. Santosh Rungta, ABU
  • Mr. A K Mittal, WBU
  • Mr. P K Pincha, Member NHRC
  • Mr. Akhil Paul, Sense India
  • Ms Sampada Shevde, Perkins V&V India
  • Mr. Dinesh Rana, CBM
  • Mr. Prasankumar, Sight Savers
  • Mr. Bhaskar Mehta, NAB India
  • Mr. Prakash Mankodi, BPA

The Resolutions Committee compiled recommendations from all the plenary as well as parallel sessions, invited recommendations from the participants and finalized the following set of resolutions. These resolutions were presented, debated and adopted in the Valedictory Session chaired by Hon'ble Justice Mohit Shah, Former Chief Justice of Mumbai High Court.

The ICEVI West Asia is pleased to adopt these resolutions as its strategy for West Asia region.

Recognizing that:

  • The Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) states very explicitly that all children with disability have the right to appropriate quality education, and mandates its signatory member countries to develop national education systems that are inclusive of the needs of children with disabilities,
  • Most of countries within the ABU - ICEVI West Asia region have ratified the UNCRPD and after the end of the implementation period of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have now endorsed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which place further attention on the provision of quality education for all children with disabilities, and
  • There is a need to provide all children and youth with visual impairment, including those with additional disabilities and deafblindness with an appropriate and quality education. The range of educational services should include early intervention and preschool service, primary and secondary education and appropriate higher education;

The conference endorses the following recommendations:

  1. Involvement of Stake-holders:The initiatives to provide education should involve all stakeholders within the region, including but not limited to government, regional inter-governmental bodies and multi-lateral government cooperation which should include: disabled peoples’ organizations, parents’ associations, teachers and school authorities, universities, donor agencies, the business sectors, and other relevant civil society organizations.
  1. Allocation of Budget:The quality of teachers should be enhanced to ensure effective inclusion of children with disabilities and for this purpose, adequate budget allocation from the State Governments should be made for inclusive education and the disability sector, which will contribute to its sustainability rather than running services through centrally sponsored schemes, which are adhoc in nature.
  1. Comparable Salary of Teachers:The special teachers have to be part of the mainstream education system as far as the salaries and services are concerned. They should be treated on par with that of general classroom teachers.
  1. Inclusive Training Modules:Training modules on inclusion should be incorporated at the diploma, UG and PG levels of teacher preparation programmes.
  1. Special Education to Continue:Though inclusive education is necessary to reach out to more children with disabilities who are currently left out of the system, attention should be on special schools too to improve their quality and parents should be given a choice to choose the system of education for their children.
  1. Residential schoolsshould be brought under the ambit of MHRD / State Education departments and be covered under the RTE Act.
  1. Indicatorshave to be developed to measure the quality of education of children with visual impairment.
  1. Data of childrenwith visual impairment needs to be more realistic, accurate on the basis of proper certification from the ophthalmologists as there is huge diversity in the present data.
  1. Special educatorsnot trained in visual impairment and yet attached to mainstream schools be provided training in early childhood care skills through short-term modules.
  1. Assistive Devices:The state functionaries should ensure that the assistive devices and learning materials are supplied to children with visual impairment without delay. Braille presses should work closely with the SSA region-wise to facilitate proper supply of braille books to the schools.
  1. Teaching of Science & Math:Strategies should be developed that expand access to and the improvement in the instruction of Mathematics and the Sciences at the primary and secondary levels; allowing greater opportunity for visually impaired students with the interest and aptitude to pursue higher education.
  1. Transition from School to Work:Greater focus on transition from school to work should be emphasized in all education programmes dealing with visually impaired children, those with multiple disabilities and deafblindness with specific attention to gender.
  1. With respect to the unique needs of students with deafblindness, provision should be made for distribution ofBraille display devices.
  1. Astechnologyplays a vital role in the empowerment of persons with disabilities, the teachers should be trained in using the devices effectively in order to provide proper training to children with visual impairment including those with low vision, multiple disabilities and deafblindness.
  1. The issue of affordability in technology should be addressed by accessing theCSR fundsas per the revised Companies Law of the Government.
  1. TheAccessible India Campaignof the Government of India should include Non-Governmental Organisations and DPOs too. The DPOs should also be made part of IED advisory committees. Funds for research and development for the disability sector should be accessed from schemes such as the “Digital India” and other initiatives of the Government.
  1. Researchin the area of visual impairment should be encouraged and they should be development orientated rather than becoming mere academic exercises.
  1. TheNational Council for Teacher Education(NCTE)should be asked to reinstate the guideline that one of the lecturers of every B.Ed. College should have qualifications pertaining to disability studies.
  1. Inter-agency Collaboration:The delegates appreciate the collaboration between the Asian Blind Union, ICEVI West Asia region, and Sense International India and wishes conducting more joint activities in the future not only in India but in the neighbouring countries too. The collaboration need not be restricted to Asia region alone and can be extended to Africa and other regions too particularly to exchange ideas and the supply of assistive devices.
  1. Meeting of Strategy Group of ICEVI West Asia:The representatives of ICEVI West Asia, Asian Blind Union, World Blind Union, Sight Savers, CBM, Sense India, Voice & Vision, National Association for the Blind, Blind People's Association met briefly after the conference. The following information was shared with the participants:
  • ICEVI Registered as Trust:As ICEVI has office of the CEO as well as Treasurer located in India and in view of the meeting of the Strategic Group held on 8th February, 2013 at Ahmedabad, the ICEVI India has been registered as a Trust under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950 and as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. All other formalities as regard getting PAN number, registration under Section 12 (a) of the Income Tax Act, 1960 shall be completed in due course of time. The registered entity will be used for the purpose of handling funds of ICEVI as per provisions of FCRA and other laws pertaining to fund transfer.
  • As resolved by the participants of the conference, the ICEVI shall organize regional and national level conference, meetings and consultations on regular basis.
  • Once the formalities as regard opening of bank account, getting PAN number, getting registration done under Section 12 (a) of the Income Tax Act as well as under Niti Ayog done, a national level meeting of participants of this meeting may be convened to promote activities of the ICEVI.
  • For the time being, resolutions of the ABU ICEVI National Conference may be adopted as strategy for ICEVI West Asia.
  • The decision regarding registration of ICEVI West Asia may be taken after Model Constitution of the ICEVI Regional Structures has been drafted and adopted by the ICEVI.
  • For the time being, Blind People's Association may be provide infrastructure, secretarial and establishment support to ICEVI West Asia.
  • The Blind People's Association may also continue provide support as regard handling of funds of ICEVI spent in India on Secretariat and Treasure office as per provisions of FCRA Act may be continued till alternative arrangements.
  • ICEVI West Asia and Asian Blind Union may continue organizing joint events and various joint initiatives on the same pattern as done in case of the National Conference.