Special Education Needs students participate in Day of Visual Arts Expressions
(September 27, 2019) – Students from Special Education Needs schools across Guyana participated at the Day of Inner Expression for Special Needs Students at the Umana Yana today where they showcased their talent in the area of visual arts.
Declaring the event open was the Chief Education Officer, Dr. Marcel Hutson who commended the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Unit and the Special Education Needs (SEN) Unit of the Ministry of Education for the initiative.
He said that the event seeks to allow students to showcase their talent since he believes that every individual is born gifted despite the troubling issues they may experience.
He added that the role of teachers is essential since education needs to be delivered to the nation’s children with special needs.
National SEN Officer, Ms. Savvie Hopkinson in her remarks said that today’s event represents a paradigm shift in education and the beneficial impact of a policy change on family and community; teacher and school.
She said, “We no longer wonder whether persons with disabilities belong to their world or our world because we know they occupy different spaces in our common sphere and that they are differently gifted and may be enabled to achieve heights in their vocations.”
According to the National SEN Officer, the event was an excellent opportunity to assess the work of teachers, to display the learning of students, to inform parents of the intellectual growth, development and progress of their children.
Moreover, Ms. Hopkinson said that now is the right time to signal to persons that students with special education needs and disability rightly belong in the classroom, the employment pool and deserve to be considered without prejudice.
Ms. Hopkinson went on to explain that the government of Guyana cares for students and this is evident in the policies being pursued. “It is visible when the Ministry of Education adopted the policy of Diversity and the Right to an Appropriate Education, it has more than the school in mind. It is targeting the economic independence of each adult and showing the way to the good life through the path of education,” She remarked.
Coordinator of the TVET Unit, Ms. Stacy Osborne said that the TVET institutions in Guyana have been implementing and working with the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) policies to include persons with disabilities.
She said that the ILO has been emphasising the need world-wide to make TVET and Skills systems inclusive of persons with disabilities. According to Ms. Osborne with the frame-work action, skills development systems have dual objectives of supporting economic growth and contributing to broad social objectives in the interest of society as a whole.
Ms. Osborne explained that these social objectives include expanding access to TVET and skills development opportunities for marginalised groups, such as persons with disabilities.
She said that the focus on disability-inclusive vocational training has been heightened by the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with disabilities in 2006.
The students that participated in today’s exercise came from the Beterverwagting SEN Centre, Schoonord Learning Centre for Diverse Needs, Diamond Special Needs School, Resource Unit for SEN Learners, Linden, Unit for the Blind and Visually Impaired and the David Rose Special School.
Participants under the guidance of their teachers were tasked to paint on canvas a representation of what they believe expresses the theme ‘Freedom’.