– as Manickchand commissions Resource Unit for Visually Impaired

THE Ministry of Education is in the process of developing a five-year strategic work plan aimed at delivering better special needs education service to the nation’s children.A great part of this strategic plan which is soon to be released will see numerous programmes, initiatives and new arrangements being put in place to ensure better inclusion within the education sector for children with special disabilities.

This was announced by Education Minister Priya Manickchand on Wednesday as she commissioned the Resource Unit for the Visually Impaired.

Manickchand told the gathering that the ministry has a report that will determine what will be the plan of action and the way forward for the ministry over the next five years. She added that her ministry is in the process of publishing a document to that effect.
A critical part of the document, she said, is the volume two aspect of the plan which will give details and spell out exactly how the ministry hopes to go about implementing the various programmes and initiatives of the work plan over the five-year period.
Among the areas to be addressed in the plan, focusing directly on children with special needs and their education, are the creation of a database which will guide the ministry on the number of disabled children and where they are located.

She said that this is very important since it will guide the ministry on the number of children they need to cater for and where the various centres and programmes need to be established.
Without the database, the ministry could end up in a situation where services are being rolled out in an area where it is presumed that these children are located or have access to, but the facts may tell a different story.
The five-year plan will also focus on literacy, early childhood education, technology and the sciences. She said that every single aspect of educating children will be addressed in the strategic plan and this came about following a series of consultations.

Meanwhile, the rolling out of the programmes will not be restricted to central points but every single region, the minister added. She said that systems will be put in place to ensure that the regions are involved in the process since this will make it easy for everyone to follow what’s happening.

DAVID ROSE SPECIAL NEEDS SCHOOL
The five-year work plan starts from this year and already on the cards is the purchasing of a bus for the David Rose Special Needs School, something they have long required.
Minister Manickchand also told the gathering on Wednesday that the ministry would be looking to revamp its management to ensure there is better oversight of programmes and integration of the disabled.

SPECIAL NEEDS DEPARTMENT
Moreover, there is also a plan by the ministry to establish a special department in the Education Ministry to deal with the issue of special needs children and their schooling. Also planned is a system to allow for the screening of children at nursery and first-year levels to ascertain if they have any signs or forms of disability. This, however, has to be done in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, it was reported.

‘CHILD-FIND’ SURVEY
The Education Ministry will also be doing its own ‘child-find’ survey to determine how many disabled children are not attending school and the reasons for this. The issue of access to education and opportunities are also on the cards in the ministry’s five-year plan.
The overall goal of the Ministry of Education in the five-year plan has a lot to do with the formation of policy guidelines to ensure that persons with disabilities receive a high quality of education services.
In the meantime, basic work and life skills will not be left off the cards and according to Minister Manickchand, the ministry understands the need to have the children receive skills to carry them through life, even if they cannot effectively cope with academics.
In the quest to have better educational access and inclusion of persons with disabilities, the Ministry of Education has also taken note of the persons who have to work with the students in the integration process.
Minister Manickchand observed that one of the hardest tasks in the five-year plan may be the issue of conducting training needs assessments for teachers in the Special Needs School System and the mapping out of career paths, while ensuring their development.
This aspect will be done for those in the mainstream programmes of special education, while there will be standards adopted to assess the performance of special needs children. In addition, a curriculum guide to embrace students with disabilities will be developed.

Source: (By Leroy Smith ) http://guyanachronicle.com/2014/05/08/five-year-education-work-plan-aims-to-improve-special-needs-education