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Time, Facts
and Opinions Ask any Editor of any Journal and theyíll tell you
it's a tricky business to get the right material in at the right time.
It gets even trickier when the material comes from all over the world
and is written in a number of languages. So I will begin by apologising
to our magnificent Secretary General (who handles the layout and deals
with the printers among other key jobs for The Educator) for once again
running the deadlines perilously close and causing him such anxiety! But
after reading the Journal I hope youíll agree that the articles
were worth his sleepless nights. I am so grateful to him for his support
and to the wonderful people who have contributed to this edition on such
an important theme.
It's clear to me that to be
useful the Journal needs to provide two things: clear facts and well informed
opinion. You will find plenty of facts in this edition about the range
of initiatives being undertaken by ICEVI in its effort to achieve one
of its primary goals - equal participation in education for children with
visual impairment by 2015. These facts lead to a clearcut conclusion:
ICEVI is making huge strides forward in one of the most exciting periods
of its history.
The goal of equal participation
by the year 2015 cannot be achieved if children around the world continue
to be excluded from schools on the grounds of their vision. But what is
inclusion and how can it be best achieved? Even if we have all the facts
available, complex questions donít usually generate simple answers
- they generate opinions. The most useful of these opinions are usually
those offered by the people who are most informed. I am very pleased that
to address the issues around the complex question of inclusion we have
a range of informed opinion from a variety of experienced people from
different parts of the world.
From the outset I was concerned
that the Educator should be seen present a balanced and global view on
this vital issue, reflecting the ethos of the organisation with regard
to inclusion, and I am happy that in this issue we have achieved this
goal. I am delighted that in this issue we have been able to draw upon
contributions from Africa, the Pacific, South America and Mongolia. The
variety of opinion captured here includes the voices of teachers, teacher
trainers, parents and people with a visual impairment - all of it informed
by extensive first hand experience. If the contributors have one common
feature it is that they are pragmatic and cautious in their approach.
They allow for a range of solutions based upon a range of provision and
allow for a variety of interpretations..
As you will read, I have recently
returned from a successful visit to Uganda with the Secretary General
to launch ICEVIís research programme. There are basic questions
relating to the best way to achieve the global participation in education
of children with VI that no one knows the answers to. ICEVI is a huge
network and is perfectly positioned to collect the facts and the informed
opinion from around the world that can begin to generate some answers
to these questions. The process will be a lengthy one but will be worth
taking time over, and you can be sure of one thing: the answers wonít
be simple and donít believe anyone who says they are (that's my
opinion anyway!)
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