World-wide, the vast majority of adolescents and youth with disabilities do not attend school. Many have never attended school or attended only once in a while, a fact reflected in UNESCO›s estimate that the literacy rate for those with disabilities world-wide is only 3 per cent; the rate for girls and women with disabilities hovers closer to 1 per cent.
School buildings are routinely built with stairs, or far from community centers, making them inaccessible to many.
While the majority of children with disability are enrolled in special schools, the question remains: is it less expensive to continue building special education institutions or make those already existing accessible to all children?

A State official’s standpoint:

Q: Can you briefly tell us about the situation of education of children with disabilities in Palestine? What does the law stipulate and how is this implemented in reality?

A:The Ministry of Education and Higher Education is working towards the effective implementation of the Education for All Dakar Objectives by 2015. To this end, it champions the inclusive education principle, which integrates all students with disabilities in all regular cycles, irrespective of their physical, mobility and sensory disabilities, be they visual or hearing impairment, including mild mental disorders.

The above efforts are supported by Article 10 of the Palestinian Law on the Rights of People with Disabilities provides for the right of every student with disability to education that is in line with Article 24 of the international law on the rights of people with disabilities.

Authorized by the Ministry, special education schools for people with disabilities are mandated to adopt and adjust the official Palestinian curriculum to disability cases to facilitate students’ inclusion, if desired by the family, and to guarantee that they take the official baccalaureate exams when they graduate. Though these schools are private institutions, the Ministry covers the salaries of teachers fulfilling its directive, as a form of support for their role in ensuring that students with disabilities are educated if the families shies away from inclusion.
These and other measures establish that equality and justice among all students.

Q: What are the measures taken by the Ministry of Education to enhance the access of children with disabilities to schools and their ability to enjoy this right of access?

A:While the regular admission system is inclusive for everyone, the Ministry has appointed inclusive education consultants to ensure that terms and requirements of inclusion are met. For example, students with visual impairments must be provided with free official textbooks in Braille format, which is in line with the principle of compulsory primary education, which includes entitlement to free textbooks.

In addition, the school building must be physically accessible and well-equipped with services for students with disabilities. The Ministry also helps secure assistive devices such as hearing aids, eyeglasses, magnifying lenses, crutches, Perkins devices for people with visual impairments, specifically for students in dire living conditions. Moreover, an inclusion education committee has been set up in every school tasked to follow-up and monitor activities and is chaired by a self-motivated teacher.

An awareness-raising campaign on inclusive education has also been conducted in all schools. Prior to inclusion, training is generally offered to schools, specifically for students of a class targeted to be part of the program. The Ministry also ensures that students with disabilities take the second official baccalaureate exams, which if they pass, allow them to pursue higher studies on an equal footing with other non-disabled students.

Furthermore, within regular schools, the Ministry has set up resource rooms for students with mild mental disabilities. Private lessons in Arabic, Mathematics and other courses are held here, as a follow-up to their classes in classrooms with their peers. Special education resource rooms are likewise set up with specialists in physical therapy, functional therapy, pronunciation and special education are appointed. These are all in addition to a social worker who makes services available in schools with the possibility of referring cases to competent authorities when the need arises.

Q: Is a special budget allocated for this purpose?

A: Currently, there is no budget earmarked for this objective; funding is secured through programs and projects sponsored by donor parties. Nevertheless, policies, regulations, instructions and guidelines enforced by the Ministry suffice to meet this end.

Q: What measures are undertaken to achieve full enrollment of all children in primary school?

A:

• Ensure that basic education is compulsory and free;
• The law mandates that a school will be established if there are more than eighteen (18) school age students, irrespective of gender and community class levels. Classrooms may be mixed, grouping students of different levels; and
• According to regulations, no student shall be dismissed during the primary cycle irrespective of his learning difficulties however, at 19; he/she shall be automatically promoted to Grade 10, which is the end of the primary cycle.

Enrollment in Grade 1 (basic education cycle) stands at 97 percent, compared to 96 percent for enrollment in the basic cycle. Dropout in primary education is equivalent to 1.3 percent, while the overall dropout rate is equal to 1.2 percent for Academic Year 2006-2007.

Q: What are the main constraints you face as a Ministry regarding the facilitation of access of children with disabilities to schools in Palestine?

A:The Ministry faces various difficulties, depending on the type of disability it is dealing with. It can be summed up as follows:

a. Weak financial capacities, resulting in a reliance on donors and no or very limited budget allocated to meet the goal;

b. Overcrowded classrooms, especially in a basic cycle. This results in students not being given special attention;

c. Legal prohibition of any modification and adjustment to leased school buildings, which means they cannot be rehabilitated to accommodate students with mobility disabilities while the modification process of other old inaccessible buildings are hard or poorly-financed.

d. There are few special education specialists to meet the need; given the lack of specialization in local faculties and universities, special training sessions on learning difficulties for teachers is turning out to be a costly and time-consuming process.

e. Pre-inclusion skills such as the ability to read Braille or sign language, rehabilitation on the use of assistive devices on basic education must be acquired as regular schools do not offer opportunities for related training or education.

f. No criteria govern inclusion, especially in cases of mental disabilities, a field that is often dealt with on a case-to-case basis as reflected in the experience of and reports by the inclusive education school committee.

Inclusion of people with hearing impairments is proving to be the hardest as they need sign language interpreters who cannot be easily obtained for technical and financial reasons. Finally, the Ministry’s biggest challenge lies in providing quality education to students with disabilities that goes beyond mere enrollment.

And a teacher’s testimony:

Q: Can children with disabilities be included in the current educational system in Palestine?

A: Palestine’s mainstream educational system accommodates all students with special needs and the conduct trainings for male and female teachers in inclusive education schools is one proof of this. Also, inclusive education teams follow-up the progress of students with special needs in schools in their respective districts.
Furthermore, inclusive education consultants provide facilities for students with special needs; they communicate with the concerned teachers and parents, giving support and appropriate guidance. Cases are also referred to concerned parties, especially in instances wherein interventions such as treatment or rehabilitation are needed.

Q: What conditions are needed to facilitate effective learning experiences for children with disabilities in a regular class?

A: The following conditions are helpful in facilitating learning of children with disabilities in a regular class:

a) Fewer students in the same class;

b) Presence of an appointed Assistant Teacher in the class;

c) Guidance of teachers and able-bodied students in accepting those with special needs and understanding their existing differences;

d) Preparation of able-bodied students to relate with children with special needs;

e) Provision of educational materials and tools to children with special needs;

f) Modification of the educational environment in a manner that facilitates the integration of students with special needs;

g) Appointment of special education specialists;

h) Modification of teaching modes and the education system to give students with special needs the chance they need in terms of time and adjusting to the curricula; and

i) Ensuring specializations in the field of special education by launching programs to train local university teachers on how to deal with students with disabilities.

Q: Personally, do you feel that you are being supported as a teacher of children with disabilities? What kind or form of additional assistance would you need to carry out or practice inclusive education in your classroom?

As an educator, we need more practical points and experiences as to how we are supposed to relate with students with special needs.
Personally, I need to have a broader and deeper knowledge of disability issues and special education methods as well as practical training by both local and foreign specialists.

Check list: Reasonable accommodation
at school:

• Develop and adjust tools for working with sign language applications in local sign languages
• Develop and adjust tools for working with Braille materials
• Develop and adjust tools for working with Pictogram materials in support of pupils who cannot express themselves by spoken language
• Develop new skills for teachers working with disabled children on the basis of these tools
• General accessibility of buildings
• Adjust schedules through flexible hours.
• Provide assistive devices, such as teletype writers (TTYs) or telephone amplifiers, tactile markings on equipment, or special computer equipment.
• Provide interpreters to enable a person with a hearing impairment to fully participate in testing, training, performance evaluations and general communications.
• Provide personal assistants
• Modify the school architecture:
• Modifications may include space dividers, flex-time, rearranged furniture and equipment, and accessible routes.
• Offer alternatives to the standard written tests. Alternatives may include oral, Braille or large-print tests.
• Make Resource Rooms available in schools making sure that they are accessible to children with all kinds of impairment.

World-wide, the vast majority of adolescents and youth with disabilities do not attend school. Many have never attended school or attended only once in a while, a fact reflected in UNESCO›s estimate that the literacy rate for those with disabilities world-wide is only 3 per cent; the rate for girls and women with disabilities hovers closer to 1 per cent.
School buildings are routinely built with stairs, or far from community centers, making them inaccessible to many.
While the majority of children with disability are enrolled in special schools, the question remains: is it less expensive to continue building special education institutions or make those already existing accessible to all children?

A State official’s standpoint:

Q: Can you briefly tell us about the situation of education of children with disabilities in Palestine? What does the law stipulate and how is this implemented in reality?

A:The Ministry of Education and Higher Education is working towards the effective implementation of the Education for All Dakar Objectives by 2015. To this end, it champions the inclusive education principle, which integrates all students with disabilities in all regular cycles, irrespective of their physical, mobility and sensory disabilities, be they visual or hearing impairment, including mild mental disorders.

The above efforts are supported by Article 10 of the Palestinian Law on the Rights of People with Disabilities provides for the right of every student with disability to education that is in line with Article 24 of the international law on the rights of people with disabilities.

Authorized by the Ministry, special education schools for people with disabilities are mandated to adopt and adjust the official Palestinian curriculum to disability cases to facilitate students’ inclusion, if desired by the family, and to guarantee that they take the official baccalaureate exams when they graduate. Though these schools are private institutions, the Ministry covers the salaries of teachers fulfilling its directive, as a form of support for their role in ensuring that students with disabilities are educated if the families shies away from inclusion.
These and other measures establish that equality and justice among all students.

Q: What are the measures taken by the Ministry of Education to enhance the access of children with disabilities to schools and their ability to enjoy this right of access?

A:While the regular admission system is inclusive for everyone, the Ministry has appointed inclusive education consultants to ensure that terms and requirements of inclusion are met. For example, students with visual impairments must be provided with free official textbooks in Braille format, which is in line with the principle of compulsory primary education, which includes entitlement to free textbooks.

In addition, the school building must be physically accessible and well-equipped with services for students with disabilities. The Ministry also helps secure assistive devices such as hearing aids, eyeglasses, magnifying lenses, crutches, Perkins devices for people with visual impairments, specifically for students in dire living conditions. Moreover, an inclusion education committee has been set up in every school tasked to follow-up and monitor activities and is chaired by a self-motivated teacher.

An awareness-raising campaign on inclusive education has also been conducted in all schools. Prior to inclusion, training is generally offered to schools, specifically for students of a class targeted to be part of the program. The Ministry also ensures that students with disabilities take the second official baccalaureate exams, which if they pass, allow them to pursue higher studies on an equal footing with other non-disabled students.

Furthermore, within regular schools, the Ministry has set up resource rooms for students with mild mental disabilities. Private lessons in Arabic, Mathematics and other courses are held here, as a follow-up to their classes in classrooms with their peers. Special education resource rooms are likewise set up with specialists in physical therapy, functional therapy, pronunciation and special education are appointed. These are all in addition to a social worker who makes services available in schools with the possibility of referring cases to competent authorities when the need arises.

Q: Is a special budget allocated for this purpose?

A: Currently, there is no budget earmarked for this objective; funding is secured through programs and projects sponsored by donor parties. Nevertheless, policies, regulations, instructions and guidelines enforced by the Ministry suffice to meet this end.

Q: What measures are undertaken to achieve full enrollment of all children in primary school?

A:

• Ensure that basic education is compulsory and free;
• The law mandates that a school will be established if there are more than eighteen (18) school age students, irrespective of gender and community class levels. Classrooms may be mixed, grouping students of different levels; and
• According to regulations, no student shall be dismissed during the primary cycle irrespective of his learning difficulties however, at 19; he/she shall be automatically promoted to Grade 10, which is the end of the primary cycle.

Enrollment in Grade 1 (basic education cycle) stands at 97 percent, compared to 96 percent for enrollment in the basic cycle. Dropout in primary education is equivalent to 1.3 percent, while the overall dropout rate is equal to 1.2 percent for Academic Year 2006-2007.

Q: What are the main constraints you face as a Ministry regarding the facilitation of access of children with disabilities to schools in Palestine?

A:The Ministry faces various difficulties, depending on the type of disability it is dealing with. It can be summed up as follows:

a. Weak financial capacities, resulting in a reliance on donors and no or very limited budget allocated to meet the goal;

b. Overcrowded classrooms, especially in a basic cycle. This results in students not being given special attention;

c. Legal prohibition of any modification and adjustment to leased school buildings, which means they cannot be rehabilitated to accommodate students with mobility disabilities while the modification process of other old inaccessible buildings are hard or poorly-financed.

d. There are few special education specialists to meet the need; given the lack of specialization in local faculties and universities, special training sessions on learning difficulties for teachers is turning out to be a costly and time-consuming process.

e. Pre-inclusion skills such as the ability to read Braille or sign language, rehabilitation on the use of assistive devices on basic education must be acquired as regular schools do not offer opportunities for related training or education.

f. No criteria govern inclusion, especially in cases of mental disabilities, a field that is often dealt with on a case-to-case basis as reflected in the experience of and reports by the inclusive education school committee.

Inclusion of people with hearing impairments is proving to be the hardest as they need sign language interpreters who cannot be easily obtained for technical and financial reasons. Finally, the Ministry’s biggest challenge lies in providing quality education to students with disabilities that goes beyond mere enrollment.

And a teacher’s testimony:

Q: Can children with disabilities be included in the current educational system in Palestine?

A: Palestine’s mainstream educational system accommodates all students with special needs and the conduct trainings for male and female teachers in inclusive education schools is one proof of this. Also, inclusive education teams follow-up the progress of students with special needs in schools in their respective districts.
Furthermore, inclusive education consultants provide facilities for students with special needs; they communicate with the concerned teachers and parents, giving support and appropriate guidance. Cases are also referred to concerned parties, especially in instances wherein interventions such as treatment or rehabilitation are needed.

Q: What conditions are needed to facilitate effective learning experiences for children with disabilities in a regular class?

A: The following conditions are helpful in facilitating learning of children with disabilities in a regular class:

a) Fewer students in the same class;

b) Presence of an appointed Assistant Teacher in the class;

c) Guidance of teachers and able-bodied students in accepting those with special needs and understanding their existing differences;

d) Preparation of able-bodied students to relate with children with special needs;

e) Provision of educational materials and tools to children with special needs;

f) Modification of the educational environment in a manner that facilitates the integration of students with special needs;

g) Appointment of special education specialists;

h) Modification of teaching modes and the education system to give students with special needs the chance they need in terms of time and adjusting to the curricula; and

i) Ensuring specializations in the field of special education by launching programs to train local university teachers on how to deal with students with disabilities.

Q: Personally, do you feel that you are being supported as a teacher of children with disabilities? What kind or form of additional assistance would you need to carry out or practice inclusive education in your classroom?

As an educator, we need more practical points and experiences as to how we are supposed to relate with students with special needs.
Personally, I need to have a broader and deeper knowledge of disability issues and special education methods as well as practical training by both local and foreign specialists.

Check list: Reasonable accommodation
at school:

• Develop and adjust tools for working with sign language applications in local sign languages
• Develop and adjust tools for working with Braille materials
• Develop and adjust tools for working with Pictogram materials in support of pupils who cannot express themselves by spoken language
• Develop new skills for teachers working with disabled children on the basis of these tools
• General accessibility of buildings
• Adjust schedules through flexible hours.
• Provide assistive devices, such as teletype writers (TTYs) or telephone amplifiers, tactile markings on equipment, or special computer equipment.
• Provide interpreters to enable a person with a hearing impairment to fully participate in testing, training, performance evaluations and general communications.
• Provide personal assistants
• Modify the school architecture:
• Modifications may include space dividers, flex-time, rearranged furniture and equipment, and accessible routes.
• Offer alternatives to the standard written tests. Alternatives may include oral, Braille or large-print tests.
• Make Resource Rooms available in schools making sure that they are accessible to children with all kinds of impairment.