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Education is central
28 May 2009
Education programmes are at the heart of our deinstitutionalisation programmes in Moldova and the Czech Republic.
As part of the programme in Moldova, we will be involved in the closure of at least three residential special schools:
- Marculesti institution for children with learning disabilities
- Ialoveni institution for children with physical disabilities
- Chisinau institution
Closing these schools involves pioneering inclusive education programmes for the children. The staff from these institutions have to be retrained to work as teaching assistants and special needs teachers integrated into mainstream schools. We will be developing special educational curriculum and preparing schools and communities for the integration of these children into mainstream schools. Most importantly, perhaps, it also involves preparing the children for the huge change in their lives.
This is a key programme because the government of Moldova has committed itself to developing inclusive education, but, as yet, there has been very little implementation of their plans. Approximately 40% of the children in institutions live there simply because there is no integrated special education in their local communities.
They need demonstration models to help kick-start the process, which is where our projects come in. We will document the programmes and share the results with professionals and politicians across Moldova.
In the Czech Republic, our focus is on Pardubice. This pilot county has agreed to work with us on a comprehensive reform of the entire care system for children. There are four residential special schools in the county, mainly because there is no real integrated education for children with disabilities in local communities.
An additional problem is that, due to discrimination and marginalisation, Roma children are routinely misdiagnosed with learning disabilities, where often there is simply an educational delay because children did not have an opportunity to attend nursery. As a result they are arbitrarily separated from their parents and placed in residential special schools. This is also compounded by parental pressure in mainstream schools where there is often a reluctance to have their children educated together with Roma children. The Czech Republic has been fined by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for this practice.
The government is keen to remedy this situation and the Deputy Minister of Education has asked us to prioritise residential special schools by assisting with the development of demonstration models of inclusive education. This initiative will include early intervention work in Roma communities to improve the educational outcomes for their children.
