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Dear Readers,
I am glad
that I am meeting you once again through The Educator. By now you are
aware that the joint position paper of ICEVI and the WBU on “Inclusive
Education for Children with Visual Impairment” has been approved.
I have received many assurances from friends around the world that the
joint position paper will strengthen our campaign for making education
for all children with visual impairment a reality by 2015. I attended
the executive committee meeting of ICEVI in March 2003 in Stellenbosch,
South Africa and pleased to know that many developmental activities are
being planned by ICEVI. I am glad to know that ICEVI, through the assistance
of the Drs. Richard Charles and Esther Yewpick Lee Foundation and other
funding organisations, has approved nearly 100 projects in developing
countries, mostly for the capacity building of teachers of visually impaired
children. As teachers play a vital role in the development of a visually
impaired child, this initiative of ICEVI is certainly going to improve
the quality of education. The research work started by ICEVI in Uganda
to identify the critical factors that should be in place for the successful
inclusion of children with visual impairment in mainstream schools can
help provide guidelines to developing nations in achieving the mission
of education for all as advocated by the Dakar Declaration. Therefore,
the efforts of ICEVI to address both the quality and coverage issues in
education of visually impaired children are commendable.
During the executive committee
meeting of ICEVI, I proposed that ICEVI should appoint members to the
WBU committee on children and I am happy that ICEVI has already appointed
three members and they will work with the members of WBU to develop position
papers on this subject. I am also glad that ICEVI is fully supportive
of the proposed UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People.
When we came to know that UNICEF
was closing the Focal Point on Disability Office, ICEVI and WBU wrote
to UNICEF with a request to reconsider the decision in the interest of
persons with disabilities. I am glad that UNICEF has responded to both
ICEVI and WBU saying that UNICEF’s commitment to children with disabilities
will not be diminished. This again shows the value of collaboration between
ICEVI and WBU in tackling such common advocacy issues.
The current issue of The Educator
is devoted to inclusion. In my view, inclusion should not be just looked
at as a methodology to serve visually impaired children. The idea is to
bring a total transformation in the entire educational system which becomes
sensitized to the educational needs of our children. ICEVI and WBU have
a tremendous role to play in enabling the policy makers of education understand
the educational needs of children with visual impairment and other disabilities.
I am glad that ICEVI has already circulated the joint position paper to
educational policy makers and professionals around the world. The time
has come to translate this policy into action and in this regard, the
collaboration between ICEVI and WBU should be strengthened at the regional
and national levels throughout the world.
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