INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN UZBEKISTAN

Author: Halikova Mukaddas, mother of Rahmonaliev Diyorbek, a student of grade 1 »D» of the school No. 11 of Namangan

«I was born in the Tashkent Region. My husband is a military and that is why, for a few years, we have been living in Namangan. I have 2 children. A girl and a boy. My firstborn is Diyorbek. I had complications in the process of giving him a birth, and because of that he has problems with speech. By the age of three, he still did not speak, and out of desperation, only then we turned to doctors. Doctors have found a 2 sided brain injury and he was diagnosed with «mental and speech development delay.»

After that, for the treatment of my son, I turned to doctors in Andijan and Tashkent, and in accordance with their recommendations, gave him medication treatment. Time went by and I did not even notice how my son turned 7 years old. I started thinking about the child’s learning at school. But, unfortunately, he was very shy and unsociable. One day, by chance, I was at school No. 11 in Namangan, where inclusive education was being piloted. By that time, the school’s activities were discussed a lot, written in the press, and shown on local television.

On that fateful day, when I went to the school, to obtain information on the education of children with special needs, a workshop was held, a visitor from Tashkent, Professor Lola Rahimovna Muminova, attended it. The agenda of the workshop had time allocated for conversations with parents and, using this opportunity, I told her about my son. She invited him for an interview, after which my child was admitted to the 1st grade. I am still so happy for my son. He has grown and changed so much in those few months since he started going to school.

My silent son started socializing, making friends, learning and playing with them. His closest friend is Muzaffar. Once, learning a poem with him, I said, that the author of the poem is Zafar Diyor, and he says, – no mom, it is Muzaffar Diyorbek... Now he can write, read, draws well, plays the drum. He is very happy. As Diyorbek says: «My friend is Muzaffar, I respect him very much; we take care of the flowers in the classroom every day. Also, I love my teacher, she teaches me to read, write and draw. I like the school and I love to go there every day.»

I learned on my own experience that education is a complex process in which the interaction between teachers and parents play a huge role. The responsibility should not be only on the teacher, but also on us, too. I try to do the homework with my child, attend open classes, class activities. My dream is that my son Diyorbek grows into a good man and makes a worthy contribution to the development of our country. Thank you for inclusive education, for the education with equal rights with everyone else.»