DUSHANBE, November 20, Asia-Plus — Problems and potential opportunities for development of inclusive education in Tajikistan are major topics of an international conference that will take place at the National Library of Tajikistan in Dushanbe on November 21.
Organized by Tajik Branch of Open Society Institute/Assistance Foundation (OSCE/AF-Tajikistan), Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan and UNICEF Country Office in Tajikistan, the conference is expected to bring together more than 80 people from president’s executive office, relevant ministries, local authorities, educational institutions, NGOs and international organizations active in Tajikistan to discuss problems of ensuring access to education, social services as well as psychological-medical-pedagogical support.
The conference will also discuss issues related to removing obstacles and crating conditions meeting requirements of children with special educational needs, the system of training of teachers and specialists, developing new scientific approaches and educational-methodological bases and raising population’s awareness, press release issued by OSCE/AF-Tajikistan said.
Inclusion in the context of education is the practice, in which students with special educational needs spend most or all of their time with non-disabled students. Implementation of this practice varies; schools can use it for selected students with mild to severe special needs. Inclusive education differs from previously held notions of ‘integration’ and ‘mainstreaming’, which tended to be concerned principally with disability and ‘special educational needs’ and implied learners changing or becoming ‘ready for’ accommodation by the mainstream. By contrast, inclusion is about the child’s right to participate and the school’s duty to accept the child. Inclusion rejects the use of special schools or classrooms to separate students with disabilities from students without disabilities. A premium is placed upon full participation by students with disabilities and upon respect for their social, civil, and educational rights.
Fully inclusive schools, which are rare, no longer distinguish between “general education” and “special education” programs; instead, the school is restructured so that all students learn together.
