Technical training for children with special needs

GINA, Guyana, Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Persons with disabilities will have the opportunity to pursue Technical Vocational Education (TVET), through a programme that the Ministry of Education plans to introduce in September.

Deputy Chief Education Officer with responsibility for technical education, Patrick Chinedu Onwuzirike, told the Government Information Agency (GINA), that the ministry is currently engaging persons from the Open Doors Centre, who have the practical experience of how to train special needs students.

Onwuzirike noted that the programme is part of the Ministry’s effort to promote inclusivity for the differently abled . “The TVET instructors, through the council for TVET have gone to two sets of workshops as to how to deal, understand and probably work with them (disabled persons) in the area of technical education. So we are hoping that by September we will roll out at least some area of technical training for most of them to be involved,” Onwuzirike said.

Onwuzirike said that the location of the Open Doors Centre in the compound of the Ministry of Public Health, ‘C ‘Field Sophia, will facilitate the programme. However, some of the students will be trained at technical institutes where they will have a variety of programmes to choose from.

“In most cases we might use the centre in Sophia, but we prefer for them to go to a technical institute to be trained because then we will have them more involved in all the programmes,” Onwuzirike empasised.

Last year, the Diamond Special Needs School received support from ExxonMobil to fund disability friendly spaces including a pantry and washrooms and for a training course for the teachers. The latter was facilitated and certified by the Institute of Distance and Continuing Education (IDCE) of the University of Guyana.

Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, at the launching of the disability friendly spaces at the Diamond Special Needs School had said that the Ministry recognises that upgrading the knowledge and skills of Special Needs teachers is crucial to addressing the needs of children with specific disabilities.

 

By: Synieka Thorne