News block

Osh, December 9, 2015 - Public Foundation “Smile.KG”, in cooperation with the Osh City Education Department and local partner NGOs, has started the implementation of a new project titled “Yes - to Inclusive Education” with a workshop to discuss issues of disability, improvement of access to education for children with disabilities, and survey to identify priority needs in this area that will be carried out as a part of the project.

 

The workshop will be attended by representatives of the Osh city Mayor Office, architecture department, social development department, education department, school administrations, civil society organizations, and media.

The project “Yes - to Inclusive Education” is aimed at addressing urgent issues faced by children with disabilities, particularly those related to physical access to school facilities for children with locomotive system disability, and methods of civil monitoring. As a part of the project, the survey team “Yes - to Inclusive Education” will use the innovative method to analyze the situation with good governance. The interviewing process will cover 130 children with locomotive system impairments and their parents in 13 territory councils and local family medicine centers. The young volunteer initiative group will provide assistance in implementing the survey and civil monitoring.

Based on the survey findings, a database of school-age children with disabilities will be created, 20 schools inspected and certified for their accessibility for children with disabilities, and recommendations developed and passed to government officials responsible for decision making related to inclusive education promotion at local and national levels. Recommendations will also be provided to relevant committees of the Parliament (Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic). The project also plans to conduct public hearings "Children Should Learn Together" with participation of deputies of Osh Kenesh, a regional conference and to create a coalition of stakeholders "For Inclusive Education" for promoting inclusive education in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The project “Yes - to Inclusive Education” is implemented by PF “Smile.KG” with support of the Collaborative Governance Program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).