News

The challenges for educational inclusion in Latin America in the voices of ministerial experts

From the 4th to the 8th of March, the 18th Educational Cooperation Conference with Ibero-America on Special Education and Educational Inclusion of the Ibero-American Intergovernmental Network for the Education of People with Special Educational Needs (RIINEE) took place.
inclusion

The event was organized by the UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office in Santiago, the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports of Spain (MEFPD), and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).

At the event, held at the Spanish Cooperation Training Center in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, delegations from 17 Ibero-American countries participated, including authorities from ministries and departments of Education from Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

The attending countries determined the design of a roadmap to ensure the right to education for people with disabilities in Ibero-America and approved the update of the Regional Information System for Students with Disabilities (SIRIED), whose implementation will be applied in 13 Member States of the RIINEE.

The authorities and specialists attending the conference identified the challenges for the educational inclusion of people with disabilities and the effectiveness of public policies in their countries and in Latin America.

Luc铆a V谩zquez, General Director of Special Education at the Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic

Luc铆a V谩zquez, directora general de Educaci贸n Especial del Ministerio de Educaci贸n de Rep煤blica Dominicana

Following the event, Luc铆a V谩zquez, General Director of Special Education at the Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic, highlighted the importance of these meetings to ensure the continuity of what her country is doing regarding the , specifically concerning Article 24, on the education of students with disabilities.

According to V谩zquez, the Dominican Republic benefits from the RIINEE Network and the Regional Information System for Students with Disabilities (SIRIED) because the documents provided by these mechanisms allow for complementing the information from her country's Census, which is insufficient for the characterization of students with disabilities, complicating their educational inclusion: 鈥淭he biggest challenge is statistics. People with disabilities are not really classified; only a percentage: 12% of people with disabilities are counted. But for education, it is so crucial to know how many are of school age, how many we have in the system, and who are missing. We have 28,100 registered students, but there are those we don't have, and for that, we are going to conduct surveys, so they can enter the schools of our country.鈥

Lisandro Fallas, national advisor of the Department of Educational Support for Students with Disabilities at the Ministry of Education of Costa Rica

Lisandro Fallas, asesor nacional del Departamento de Apoyos Educativos para el Estudiantado con Discapacidad del Ministerio de Educaci贸n de Costa Rica

For his part, Lisandro Fallas, national advisor of the Department of Educational Support for Students with Disabilities at the Ministry of Education of Costa Rica, mentioned the benefits of the conference and the challenges his country faces to achieve inclusion in education: "The importance of this meeting for us, as countries belonging to the RIINEE, is the ability to share experiences and also to take away the learnings from other countries. The challenges we face as a country are: the strengthening of a support system for the entire student population and, of course, from the perspective of this meeting, the possibility of accompaniment and political support," he concluded.

Jennifer Salazar, General Director of Special Education at the Ministry of Education of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Jennifer Salazar, directora general de Educaci贸n Especial del Ministerio de Educaci贸n de la Rep煤blica Bolivariana de Venezuela

Jennifer Salazar, General Director of Special Education at the Ministry of Education of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, asserted that, through the conference, the topic of educational inclusion "becomes a benchmark at a global level, so that our societies change, begin to broaden their view towards diversity. This space guarantees that we can make exchanges, can establish relationships with other types of people, to enrich our educational models, aiming towards educational inclusion."

According to Salazar, the main challenges to achieving inclusion of people with disabilities in the Venezuelan educational system "are connected to the ongoing training of teachers in early childhood education, primary education, and throughout the educational system, to truly welcome these children so that someone with any type of disability is never again invisible."

Olga Acosta, National Director of Educational Quality at the Ministry of Education of Colombia

Olga Acosta, directora nacional de Calidad Educativa del Ministerio de Educaci贸n de Colombia, destac贸 que el encuentro con los pa铆ses de Iberoam茅rica evidencia que los pa铆ses tienen como tarea primordial abrazar la inclusi贸n educativa, para que m谩s ni帽os y ni帽as puedan entrar al sistema y que no existan las barreras que impiden que toda la poblaci贸n pueda tener acceso a la educaci贸n, en todas las trayectorias, completa. Acosta se帽al贸 que 鈥渆l gran reto de Colombia est谩 en que todos los ni帽os y ni帽as, los m

Olga Acosta, National Director of Educational Quality at the Ministry of Education of Colombia, highlighted that the meeting with Ibero-American countries shows that a primary task for these nations is to embrace educational inclusion, so that more children can enter the system and eliminate the barriers that prevent the entire population from having access to education, in all its stages, completely.

Acosta pointed out that 鈥渢he great challenge for Colombia is for all children, especially the youngest, to be able to access the educational system, so that no child with a disability has to stay at home, but rather that the school opens its doors for everyone to come together with all other children, to learn about life, about peace.鈥 She also emphasized the need for greater inclusion in Colombian universities: 鈥淲e believe that teachers must embrace diversity, that it becomes part of the school, and that university programs make it possible to bring the discussion of inclusion to the table, as a way to build a better country and a better society.鈥

Ausmenia Valencia, Director of Special Basic Education at the Ministry of Education of Peru

Ausmenia Valencia, directora de Educaci贸n B谩sica Especial del Ministerio de Educaci贸n de Per煤

Ausmenia Valencia, Director of Special Basic Education at the Ministry of Education of Peru, identified the common challenge that Latin America and the Caribbean face in achieving inclusion and discussed the issues affecting her country. "Peru has significant challenges in this area, and I believe one of them is teacher training. While it is true that we are in the process of training and also providing technical assistance, it is important to consider initial and ongoing, continuous training for teachers. As well as providing them with the necessary materials and resources, so that this process can be carried out under the best conditions. Many barriers need to be overcome, including those related to the curriculum, accessibility, and methodology. But I believe there is an even more important barrier, which is attitudinal. We need to change our philosophy, our outlook, the way we see people, children, and youth with disabilities: to see not only their barriers but also their strengths," she stated.