Who is popular today?

SOCIAL Services and Public Administration Joint Select Committee (JSC) chairman Paul Richards on Wednesday was alarmed that the education challenges of special-needs children in TT are not being properly addressed during the covid19 pandemic.
Richards expressed alarm after hearing concerns from different education stakeholders during a virtual meeting held by the JSC on hybrid learning in the pandemic. The concerns included health challenges faced by special-needs children owing to prolonged computer use, challenges to register these children for exams, and shortage of key staff at the Education Ministry to adequately deal with special-needs children's educational needs.
After saying it was not the first time he heard the complaints, Richards observed, "It is almost to the point of institutionalised marginalisation and it has to stop."
He added, "It does not make sense we in this country keep singing every creed and race finds an equal place because every creed and race does not find an equal place."
He said it was clear by contributions from stakeholders "that persons with disabilities and learners' disabilities are being marginalised in many, many different ways."
Richards said the blame did not rest with any political party or government.
"It is us as country marginalising this vulnerable group."
Education Ministry special education co-ordinator Leticia Rodriguez-Cupid said, "The transition to online (learning) has been very, very tramautic for many of our students. Many parents, many students, do not access what is available, even if they have devices."
While the ministry continues to distribute electronic devices to students who need them, Rodriguez-Cupid said, "The online system has actually highlighted some of the difficulties that we know our children face on a daily basis."
She disclosed, "The prolonged time on the computer has actually triggered some emotional and sensory responses that are not ideal for our students."
Rodriguez-Cupid said the ministry had "noted several reports of students with reports of increased seizures, increased episodes, tantrums etc because of the prolonged use of the computer over the last year."
Referring to the ministry's number of 3,365 students being referred to its students services division as special-needs students, Richards found the number to be "quite low." He asked ministry officials to indicate whether it was accurate that since 2004, "the student support services has never been more than 20 per cent staffed, inclusive of administrative staff."
Education Ministry permanent secretary Lenor Baptiste-Simmons replied, "As far as I'm aware, that could be accurate. What we have observed, over the years as you said, there has been an expansion. There were years when it would have been up to 50 per cent because I have been in the system for 20 odd years with the ministry."
She reiterated that the division had been recently expanded in terms of "special needs as well as the number of social workers."
Princess Elizabeth School principal Gerard Frederick claimed students from the school have had difficulty registering for the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exam.
Baptiste-Simmons replied, "I am just stumped."
Richards observed, "This is not the first time that I have heard that students have been denied access to the SEA and or accommodations."
He suggested,"Maybe there needs to be some sort of investigation into this practice which may not be ministry policy but someone that is making a decision that is beyond their remit."
Accepting Richards' suggestion, Baptiste-Simmons said, "Apart from launching the investigation, the matter has to be brought before me."
Frederick told her "I have put something in the registered mail, it should be arriving at your office at the end of the week."
He explained that special-needs students have the mental capacity to write exams like the SEA but may need help in other areas such as physical access to the examination site. Frederick also said some parents with special-needs children were reluctant to register them in secondary schools because they were afraid the children would be bullied. Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh remarked, "It is shocking. It is alarming."
Down Syndrome Family Network board member Lisa Ghany said, "I feel the existing system is failing our children with special needs."
She suggested the system be redesigned because "we all need to be on the same page with regards to the understanding of inclusion and also of the universal design for education."
Stressing that special schools have a place in the education system, Ghany said, "There also needs to be more integration of children who have intellectual disabilities and disabilities like being hearing-impaired and sight-impaired, that have nothing to do with the functioning of their intellectual capacity to learn."
Blind Welfare Association executive officer Kenneth Suratt suggested that visually impaired students be allowed to come to school for a couple days each week since they benefit more from audio as opposed to visual online learning.
The post Senator complains of ‘institutionalised marginalisation’ of special-needs children appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.