Association for Aid and Relief, Japan (AAR Japan) begins one-year project on “Developing Curricula of Teacher Training Course at Higher Education for Promotion of Inclusive Education” with financial assistance from the Japanese government.
The Grant Agreement for 411,313 USD was signed between Mr. Takayuki Miyashita, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Tajikistan and AAR Japan at the Embassy of Japan in Dushanbe on December 2,
Representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) and the Tajik State Pedagogical University also attended the ceremony.
AAR Japan aims at supporting the current efforts of the government of the Republic of Tajikistan for Inclusive Education, defined in the “National Conceptual Framework for the Inclusive Education of Children with Disabilities in the Republic of Tajikistan for the period from 2011 to 2015”, approved by the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan on April 30, 2011.
From 2014 to 2020, AAR Japan has successfully promoted Inclusive Education (IE) in Dushanbe and Hisor city while being financially supported by the Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Tajikistan.
As a result of the projects, educational environments surrounding students with disabilities have been drastically improved. AAR Japan has installed handrails, wheelchair ramps, and renovated bathrooms in the school buildings of Dushanbe and Hisor City in order to enhance the accessibility for students with disabilities. For those who never attended schools or dropped out because of disabilities and/or other reasons, so-called resource classrooms were also equipped. Moreover, to strengthen the capacity of the human resources for IE and encourage the inclusion at mainstream schools, seminars, trainings, and awareness raising activities have been conducted.
In the 6-year IE project more than 400 children with disabilities enrolled / used resource classroom; more than 450 teachers participated in training and seminars; more than 10,000 people joined awareness raising activities.
Even after the completion of the projects, those barrier-free facilities and experienced teachers in previous projects’ sites, will be continuously involved as guides and good role models in the new project.
The target beneficiaries of the new project will be the university students and teachers of teacher training course in the Tajik State Pedagogical University and they will visit sites of previous projects so that they are able to learn how to realize the inclusion in a class room by observing them. By training the teachers of teacher training course, participants of new projects are expected to become skillful trainers and teachers who can train the future teachers so that every student with disabilities in Tajikistan is openly accepted and be able to learn with other students without any leaning difficulties. Also, AAR Japan will renovate barrier-free toilets, slopes and grabbers in the university in order to make sure the accessibility to the higher education for students with disabilities. In addition, IE networking group consisting of government officials, IE specialists, local organizations and International organizations will be developed for the purpose of expanding the IE to the whole regions of Tajikistan by strengthening the partnerships of IE actors.
AAR Japan hopes that the new project will create a multiple effect for the partners and beneficiaries of both previous and new project. In doing so, we will also create strong partnerships with a MoES and Embassy of Japan in Dushanbe.
