Education for Disabled Children
- PIHEL is raising funds for a project to provide inclusive education for disabled and disadvantaged children in Northern Vanuatu as part of its long term Education strategy. Remoteness, physical and mental disability, social stigma and poverty all contribute to barring these children from being able to go to school. The lack of any schools that are suitable to include such children and the unavailability of the dedicated and specially trained educators needed to teach them makes it almost impossible to achieve a successful outcome.
- The first stage of this project has been to work with local Vanuatu teachers and specialists to develop the very best methodology possible to build the long term plan needed to deliver a practical and sustainable solution. We are starting to explore the availability of experienced educators and other staff to set up comprehensive inclusive education training for existing teachers to build the capacity needed to actually deliver a program. It will also be important to develop a home based educational support model for some children and their families where the trained teacher goes on regular visits to homes to provide advice, educational resources and guidance.
- In parallel with this process is an evaluation of what infrastructure ( access, transport, ammenities and such) will be needed to enable an existing school to deliver inclusive education. A pilot will be designed for a small cohort of students to trial the program over a couple of years to iron out problems. Future stages will explore building purpose built schools with the facilities and technology designed to best support inclusive education and provide opportunities to children with more severe disabilities.
- As with all PIHEL supported projects, this project will be carried out in partnership with local communities and Government agencies, employ local staff whenever possible and support local businesses when purchasing goods and services. Respect for the local community, their leaders and culture will be a fundamental requirement of any overseas staff involved in the project.