“UNICEF and SaveTheChildren support inclusion in Brovary: new opportunities for children from OOP Brovary community received significant financial support from international organizations for the development of inclusive education. Thanks to the grants, classrooms were modernized, special equipment was installed, and assistive technologies were introduced for children with special needs.”, — write on: unn.ua
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Accessibility in education is a key aspect for ensuring equal opportunities and successful integration of children with special educational needs (SEN) into the educational process. At the same time, creating an accessible environment for such children requires significant investments – from the arrangement of classes and groups to the provision of assistive technologies and equipment.
Given the limited budget of the local community, full financing of these projects becomes a difficult task. That is why local authorities increasingly attract external assistance, in particular, sponsorship funds and grants from international organizations. Such a partnership makes it possible to implement large-scale projects that not only improve educational conditions, but also contribute to the socialization and development of children with special educational needs, providing them with access to quality education and a comfortable learning environment.
One of the successful examples of attracting sponsor and grant funds to the organization of an inclusive educational process is the Brovary Territorial Community, which is actively working on the implementation of barrier-free education. This makes it possible to improve learning conditions for children with special educational needs, ensuring their access to quality education and a comfortable stay in educational institutions.
In particular, according to the Brovar City Council, in the 2022/2023 school year, Brovar Lyceum No. 7 began cooperation with UNICEF as part of the project “Development of an ecosystem for the provision and use of assistive technologies in Ukraine to ensure the successful inclusion of children with disabilities.” The project, which is coordinated by UNICEF and the “Resource Center”, made it possible to equip a sanitary room for children with special needs, carry out repair work in classrooms and resource rooms, build a ramp at the entrance to the primary school and replace the entrance door.
The total amount of invested funds amounted to 1.6 million hryvnias. In addition, UNICEF donated new furniture to the lyceum, including single desks, chairs and school equipment worth 2 million hryvnias.
Other educational institutions of the community also receive assistance from international funds. For example, Lyceum No. 2 named after V.O. Sukhomlynskyi, No. 3 and No. 6 joined the project of the international non-governmental organization “SaveTheChildren”, which supports educational accessibility by providing funding for the purchase of resources and equipment for inclusive education. Lyceum No. 3 received resources and equipment worth more than 114,000 hryvnias, and Lyceum No. 6 received sports equipment and didactic materials for children with special educational needs worth more than 36,000 hryvnias. Lyceum No. 2 is expected to receive assistance in the amount of 170,000 hryvnias.
The Brovary City Council also said that one of the lyceums, where children with special educational needs study, uses, for example, assistive technologies, including i-trackers, which is especially important for children with complex developmental disorders. The eye-tracker tracks the direction of the child’s gaze and head movements, which opens up new opportunities for learning and socialization, especially if the child has difficulties with speech.
Thus, thanks to the support of international organizations and state initiatives, the Brovary community actively implements barrier-free education, creating accessible and comfortable conditions for learning for all children, in particular those who need additional support. This can serve as an example for those communities in Ukraine that do not yet actively attract international sponsorship to organize a barrier-free educational process.
We will remind
UNN previously reported that the Brovary community actively adapts the educational environment for children with sensory impairments, providing access to special textbooks, technologies and inclusive programs.
In addition, resource rooms for children with special educational needs have been created in 12 communal schools and kindergartens of the Brovary territorial community. These rooms are used for psycho-emotional relief, corrective and developmental classes, as well as for individual and group classes.
In total, there are 2,256 children with special educational needs registered in the Inclusive Resource Center (IRC) in the territory of the community, of which 1,426 are of preschool age, and 830 are of school age. To ensure the availability of education for these children, numerous inclusive initiatives and accommodations have been created in the community.