Inclusive Schools Still Exception for Tajik Disabled
A handful of kindergartens are geared towards bringing disabled children into the mainstream, but most schools remain unequipped to cope with special needs.
Inclusive Schools Still Exception for Tajik Disabled
A handful of kindergartens are geared towards bringing disabled children into the mainstream, but most schools remain unequipped to cope with special needs.
Any expansion in the number of such schools will be hindered by lack of funding, specialised infrastructure and qualified teachers.
Sadullo Zikrikhodoev, head of the Disabled Society of Dushanbe, says most children with a physical disability do not have a chance to go to a “normal” secondary school, although that should be their right.
“Most schools that operate now are entirely unsuited to [the needs of] the disabled,” he told IWPR reporter Davlatsho Shoetiborov. “The desks are too high, the toilets aren’t suitable, and there are no lifts. All these obstacles mean that parents take their children along to their nearest school a few times, but they end up disappointed.”
The audio programme, in Russian and Tajik, went out on national radio stations in Tajikistan, as part of IWPR project work funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs..
