A1 Plus | 14:48:08 | 18-11-2004 | Social |

HEALTH CONDITION OF CHILDREN AT SPECIAL SCHOOLS IS ALARMING

Children with special needs placed at special/boarding schools in
Yerevan face myriad health and development problems, according to the
Assessment of Health Condition of Children with Special Education Needs
conducted upon the request from the Ministry of Education and Science of
the Republic of Armenia by the Children’s Health Care Association with
UNICEF’s support.

The study which provides an in depth analysis of health and development
problems of children was carried out at Nubarashen No. 1 and 11 schools
for children with mental retardation, school No. 9 for children with
hearing impairments and Nubarashen No. 18 special school for children
with behavioral problems.

The objective of the study was to assess health condition of children,
identify whether children are placed in a proper special school and meet
new admission criteria recently adopted by the Ministry of Education and
Science.

Out of 514 children registered in the surveyed schools, only 391 (76%)
were available for screening. Over 60% of children were from Yerevan,
while the rest were from neighboring regions.

The screening revealed that along with children with special educational
needs, schools also accepted their siblings without such needs solely on
the basis that they belonged to the same socially vulnerable families.
On the average for 16% (62 children) of the surveyed children the
schools that they were placed in were not appropriate. However, the
reintegration of those children into mainstream education is already
impossible.

According to the study findings, poverty (50% of children) and family
problems (62 % in Nubarashen No. 18 special school) are major causes for
placement of children in a special school.

Many of the children suffer from chronic diseases, including cases which
require immediate medical intervention. In particular, up to 17% of the
surveyed children have hearing problems caused by chronic tonsillitis
and otitis. In many cases, however, school administrations were not able
to provide relevant medical assistance to the children due to the lack
of qualified medical personnel and absence of legal power to authorize
specialized medical intervention.

In addition, the study indicates that out of 391 children 28 (7%) were
subjected to physical violence within their families, whereas 9 children
(2%) were subjected to violence at the schools.

The assessment once again brings up the importance of regular medical
checkups of all children in special schools as well as the need to
revise curriculum in those institutions. Moreover, the development of
the state policy on early identification of childhood disability and
early intervention will lead to timely integration of children with
disabilities into the society, thus preventing many children from being
placed in special schools.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress