Inclusive education to be considered as all-embracing
2017-02-21
Minister of Education and Science of RA Levon Mkrtchyan met today with the delegation led by Jane Buchanan, Associate Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch and Giorgia Goga, expert on human rights issues in South Caucasus at the same organization.
Minister welcomed the guests and noted that our country had made a long way towards inclusive education, and now the time came to put theory into practice. He also informed the guests, that Armenia would move towards universal extensive inclusive education until the year 2025. Levon Mkrtchyan highlights in his speech that ideology of inclusive education goes beyond providing education for children with disabilities.
“Education of every minority, be it a Syrian child or a child endowed with special talents, should be implemented within inclusive education. Therefore, the ideology of inclusiveness should be considered as all-embracing and no need to rush in terms of time frames”, Minister said, adding that starting from 2017 the position of teacher’s assistant is enrolled in the state budget.
During the meeting Ms Buchanan stated, that one of the objectives of the visit to Yerevan was the publication of the report on the access to quality inclusive education in Armenia.
According to the Associate Director, a group of parents of some children with special needs have to stay at school with them , as their children still feel isolated from the other students of the class. And another group of parents, especially in remote regions, organize education of their children at home. However, under “homeschooling”, as she says, parents, who don’t send their children to inclusive school, limit children’s right to education.
Highly appreciating study results carried out by Human Rights Watch, Minister L. Mkrtchyan highlighted recommendations made by this organization on the way towards broader inclusive education.
