INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN UZBEKISTAN

Opening of the Pilot Resource Center “Inclusive Education for Children with Special Needs in Uzbekistan” funded by the European Union took place on April 30, 2015, in the secondary school No. 324 of Shaykhontokhur district in Tashkent. This event was the final in a series of openings of the Project Pilot Resource Centers held in February this year in five regions of the Republic of Uzbekistan –Urgench, Termez, Namangan, and Samarkand.

35-year-old Tashkent resident Farkhad Artikbayev recently invented an unusual T-shirt for his son, 10-year-old Muhammad Ali having autism. The son of Farkhad cannot speak and does not look at people. So, an inscription on clothes with a request to call if the child suddenly appears somewhere alone proved to be the best solution.

… When getting to know little Oybek for the first time, we were fascinated by his incredible charm and dazzling laughter and smile, a lively mind and energy which energize the people around him. His story has shocked and touched at the same time …

Assessment of performance of inclusive school, inclusive kindergarten and its personnel is not a simple matter. Because children with special educational needs sometimes learn slower than others, and it also happens that the child’s development does not improving with age, but even slowing down.

The past year was marked by increased attention to the “special” social groups. For example, changes were made to the Law “On Guardianship and Custody”, the Law “On Social Partnership” was signed, and a number of the projects jointly with international organizations such as the European Commission, the United Nations Development Program were launched.

The World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the Convention which guarantees security and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for persons with special needs, as well as respect for their dignity.

The main and priority objective of this Project is to provide assistance to children with special needs and all sorts of support in the course of their education. For this reason, all the Project activities were planned in order to achieve this goal and to enable children with special needs to get a full education.

As part of our Project, we need to develop tools to assess learning readiness at secondary schools of children with special educational needs, resulting from any human limitations, and who currently attend specialized kindergartens, schools, or get education at home.

In order to implement the project activity at a high level we apply special methods to assess the Project quality. It is possible to assess the Project quality both by the experts involved in the Project (internal assessment), as well as externally, with the assistance of independent people, such as teachers, parents, social workers etc. (independent assessment).