The 3rd
Conference on the Education of Persons with Disabilities was launched on
Tuesday, December 9th, 2014, at Zayed University in Dubai, under the
title "Let's support them and share their world". The Conference was
organized by the University and the British Council, with the participation of
130 regional and international decision-makers and experts from 30 countries
specialized in the affairs of people with disabilities.
The Conference was
launched under the auspices of His Excellency Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al
Qasimi, Minister of International Cooperation and Development and President of
Zayed University, in the presence of Reyadh AlMehaideb, Zayed University Vice
President, his Excellency Philip Parham, UK Ambassador to the UAE, and Marc
Jessel, Director of British Council UAE.
The current session
of the Conference - held over two days – aims to promote awareness of the need
to integrate students with disabilities in the educational systems in various
countries, as the participants in the Conference show their best hands-on
practices and field experiences in this regard, and are searching all available
opportunities and challenges related to the subject educational integration,
and making sure to find alternative solutions to support the students with
disabilities, share their world, and support their learning experience.
AlMehaideb referred
to the Federal Law No. 29 of 2006 on the rights of persons with disabilities,
which states that the State shall guarantee to persons with disabilities, equal
opportunities in education in all educational institutions, vocational training,
adult education, and continuing education, both in regular classes or special
classes, with the availability of curriculum with the sign language, Braille or
any other means.
AlMehaideb stressed
that this Conference will increase our awareness of all the challenges faced by
this category, and how we can all do as much as we can to overcome such
challenges, pointing out that the most important challenges to be faced and controlled
is facilitating access to academic education and integrating them into society.
For his part, Marc
Jessel, Director of the British Council in the UAE, said that one of the most
important objectives of the British Council is to increase awareness of the
need to integrate children with special needs in the educational system, and we
hope through this conference to educate people, change the negative concepts
that may be prevalent among them, and work hard to ensure that all children
with special needs enjoy the human rights in the world in general, and in the
UAE and the Middle East in particular, by securing decent and effective
education system.
The participants in
the Conference attended four daily workshops conducted by international
speakers, which cover the learning needs issues for persons with disabilities
from various angles, including; "Lebanon's march towards greater cultural
integration”, "Window on the educational integration", and "Change,
challenges, and options: Towards creating a program that fits everyone", in
addition to a workshop entitled "Introduction to everyone: physical and
mathematical studies for high-quality integration of education".
11/12/2014