JEDDAH, 25 September 2004 — The start of a new school year is usually stressful for parents whose children are enrolled in their first year or are attending a new school. This is doubly true for parents with disabled children.
There are several education centers public and private for students with disabilities whether physical or mental. However, experts recommend that people with special needs be integrated into mainstream society as early as possible and for institutions to accommodate them and acknowledge their rights. Several years ago, the Ministry of Education adopted a project to integrate children with special needs into regular schools as a step toward helping them assimilate and lead a satisfying productive life.
The project began with boys’ schools but a few years later it was implemented in girls’ schools. This year in Jeddah, new programs for the hearing impaired, mentally disabled and, for the first time, visually handicapped were introduced. “Our programs began seven years ago with the hearing impaired in first year elementary,” said Omalsaad Balkhoyor, director of the special education unit at the Supervisory Education Administration for girls. It began with seven girls who were at Al-Amal Institute for the deaf and were transferred with their specialized teachers to a regular school. They also enrolled three children, two boys and one girl, from the Cognitive Education Institute for the mentally handicapped into a kindergarten. “The integration is partial, it is not in the classroom. The disabled students have their own class but they mingle with the others outside the class and share activities,” explained Afaf Eslam, in charge of the integration programs. Each class has between 6 and 8 students with each student following an individually tailored learning program and set goals based on his abilities. “We attend seminars, lectures and conferences on special education and learning disabilities to update our information and develop our skills. We also cooperate with the men’s special education department and gain from their experiences,” Eslam told Arab News.
After visiting the schools and speaking with the principals and teachers, the special education unit representatives choose the schools most suitable and assist in facilitating them to accommodate the needs of the disabled children.
“We face difficulty in finding appropriate buildings, even in new schools, the needs of the handicapped are not taken into consideration,” said Balkhoyor to Arab News. They have enrolled students in elementary and intermediate schools with high schools being next once the intermediate students graduate.
“We did not face any problems in integrating the students, in fact the school administrators were always cooperative and we found the students to be accepting of their new school-mates and make an effort of being friends with them and learning from them,” said Balkhoyor.
At Kindergarten 19, the only kindergarten in Jeddah at which hearing impaired children have been integrated, Arab News saw these children play and communicate with the other children and enjoying a happy and innocent childhood without feeling different from the others. “The program began here a few years ago experimentally, but last year we enrolled the children officially full-time with the other children,” said Hind Najjar, the principal of Kindergarten 19. They have two classes for the hearing impaired children, with each class having 8 children. These children spend most of their day with the other children except during their lessons, which take place in their own classes because they need special attention. “They have two teachers in their class, one trained in special education and gives them their lesson in sign language and the other is a kindergarten teacher,” said Najjar. The parents of all the children were enthusiastic about the program, and the Kindergarten had ensured their awareness and the children’s understanding of it before it began.
A team of specialists and supervisors regularly visit the schools to ensure proper care is taken and report on the children’s development. The special education unit also provides evening classes for adults with disabilities at designated centers. “There is much more awareness now and we receive an increasing number of parents seeking schools for their children,” she said. One of the biggest problems they face, however, is the shortage of special education teachers. “There is only the Saud University in Riyadh that graduates women with this specialty and they are barely able to meet the demand throughout the Kingdom,” explained Balkhoyor.
Dar Al-Hekma private college for girls in Jeddah has recently begun offering this specialty but their graduates are limited in number and they usually prefer to work for private institutions.
