INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN UZBEKISTAN

“Summer School on Inclusive Education” was held from 17 to 28 August, 2015, in Tashkent oblast. This training was the final phase of training for teachers and educators before inclusion on September 2nd, 2015, of children with special educational needs in 15 pilot kindergartens and 15 pilot comprehensive schools in 5 regions under the Project implementation (Tashkent, Samarkand, Khorezm, and Namangan and Surkhandarya oblasts).

800 children with special educational needs went to kindergartens and school classes of the mainstream education system on September, 2, in the framework of the “Inclusive Education for Children with Special Needs in Uzbekistan” Project funded by the European Union.

“As a hearing-impairment specialist, I would like to note that the level of “the ability to understand verbal communication” is the most difficult for children with hearing impairment. But at early diagnostics, hearing aid and trainings with a hearingimpairment specialist our children can study at the mainstream school. In order to assess the level of cognitive development of the child with hearing impairment we recommended a test “Draw a Man”. Such exercises are easy to organize, and children really enjoy them.

During the summer months the Project has trained more than 250 experts participated in the process of assessment of children with special educational needs, which, for the most part was based on the opinion of the members of the medical, psychological and pedagogical Commission and teachers.

It is gratifying to report that the Director of the Resource Center at the pilot school No. 11 in Namangan Uktamhon Mirzaeva received the medal Honorable Person in Public Education”! Her contribution to the promotion of Inclusive Education in Namangan oblast was particularly noted while awarding.

Each child is special, different, it is indisputable. And yet there are children who are termed “special” not to emphasize the uniqueness of abilities, but in order to identify the distinguishing needs. They are children with disabilities. Currently there is an urgent need in understanding of their problems, respect and recognition of their rights to education, willingness and readiness to include them in children’s community, instead of hiding them behind the walls of special institutions or leavingat home, sitting by the window and watching his peers.

A meeting of the Parents’ Club was conducted in Samarkand on July 10, 2015, where parents of children both with special needs and of other children have met. Under the Project implementation, the parents have rallied around the idea to integrate their children into the society as much as possible.

Order of the Minister of Public Education (registered by the Ministry of Justice on 17.06.2015, No.2685) approved Regulations on the procedure for transfer of students with physical or mental impairments from one specialized educational institution to another, or to educational institution for training on inclusive (integrated) education.