MANILA, Philippines – A World Bank official has urged the Department of Education to make all public elementary and high schools in the country more accessible to children with disabilities.
“If normal schools can take persons with disabilities, then the Education For All (campaign) can move further,” Bert Hofman, WB country director, told The STAR at the sidelines of the “1 Goal Education For All Campaign Launch” at the DepEd head office in Pasig City recently.
The “1 Goal: Education for All Campaign” is a global initiative that calls on all leaders of the world to provide education to 72 million children worldwide.
The launching was in line with this year’s observance of the “National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week.”
Hofman said the WB has been financing several DepEd programs, including special projects for children with disabilities.
“The physical infrastructure is quite good in new schools in the Philippines,” Hofman said, referring to the establishment of facilities for persons with disabilities in Philippine schools.
However, he said, the DepEd should also train school administrators and teachers on how to handle children with disabilities, adding that programs for children with disabilities must be included in the mainstream education system.
Yolanda Quijano, director of DepEd’s Bureau of Elementary Education, said they have put up less than 300 special education centers in selected elementary schools in the country. She said each center received some P250,000 annual funding from the DepEd in the last two years.
Richard Arceno, national coordinator of the Philippine Council of Cheshire Homes for the Disabled (PhiCOCHED), said over two million Filipino children with disabilities do not have access to basic education and less than one percent of the youth have not received secondary and tertiary education in 2009.
He said the low participation rate was due to the PWDs’ exclusion from the educational system. –Helen M. Flores (The Philippine Star)
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