The mood was festive in school 131 in Mladost, where Save the Children launched its campaign for inclusive education on January 15. Of course there were some official speeches, the campaign being under the patronage of the first lady, Zorka Purvanova, and the Ministry of Education. But it was mostly children leading the show, hogging the microphone, planting plants, clapping their hands and singing on stage – children with or without disabilities.
For this is what inclusive education is all about: giving every child, whatever its disabilities or ethnic origin, access to quality education in a mainstream school. Not only is it a right, it is also feasible: three TV spots illustrate it by bringing together a child with some kind of disability (Evgeni has dyslexia, Teodora is blind, Ivan has cerebral paralysis) and his/her best friend and schoolmate. The children relate quite naturally to one another, and make us feel that we are the ones who need education for a better acceptance of differences.
The central message of the campaign is: how can we live together if we haven’t been to school together? “And,” says Neli Decheva, head of a school in Rousse, “the children have another set of values and are more naturally tolerant than we are”. So everybody benefits from inclusion, both the children with disabilities and the others. The TV spots will be aired on the three national channels until the end of March.
Until recently, children with disabilities – and this includes dyslexia, autism, attention deficit disorder or hyperactivity – were sent to so-called special schools, enduring a de facto segregation. They were not only deprived of their right to education, but also of their right to live with their family – many of those schools being boarding schools. Inclusion in mainstream schools means closing down special schools and giving mainstream schools the means for architectural (platforms, lifts, toilets, etc.) and educational adaptation – a team of specialists, the so-called resource teachers, have to support children with special needs in the classroom. In 2006, according to the Ministry of Education, 24 special schools were closed and 3756 children integrated into mainstream schools. However, it seems that no Government funding is available for adapting the school environment, and it is unclear whether EU funds can be used for that purpose. And 103 special schools still remain.
The rainbow school in Rousse
Decheva tells us of her experience as the head of the school in Rousse: she arrived there in 2001 for a period of… six months. She then met parents of children with disabilities who did not want to send them to auxiliary schools. So she took them in. Then an auxiliary school closed in Rousse, and the children were sent to mainstream schools. Many came to her school, since it had gained reputation for widespread acceptance. And children from three institutions for children deprived of parental care started coming as well. So now the school has 350 children, versus 260 in 2001; 76 have disabilities and about 60 are Roma, while others are Turkish or Armenians: Decheva has no plan to leave.
Any difficulties or misunderstandings on the part of parents or teachers? “No,” she says. She is the kind of person who changes the world and thinks it perfectly natural. She does not have a communication strategy; she just communicates “neprekusnato” (incessantly) with parents, teachers and students. “Nothing would have been possible otherwise.” Her door is constantly open. Any help from the state? No. She did, however, after a three-year fight, receive a minibus from the municipality, to ensure transportation for children with disabilities. And 10 resource teachers were sent to her school after the closure of the auxiliary school.
Reproducing this kind of exemplary story needs a lot of commitment. What Save the Children fears is that the Government will be content to close down auxiliary schools and send children to mainstream schools without the required preparation and equipment. “The schools,” says Iva Boneva, manager of Save the Children – Bulgaria, “have to adapt to children with special needs, and not vice-versa”. So Save the Children works on a training programme with 38 pilot schools all over Bulgaria, representing 12 000 children, among whom 900 with disabilities. Changing the mentalities is a prerequisite, hence the campaign, which promotes a culture of tolerance.
The campaign focuses on children with disabilities, but Roma children could also benefit from it. For the time being, they go to predominantly Roma schools, or to auxiliary schools, or they drop out. The results are clear: according to the National Statistics Institute’s most recent census, 85 per cent of Roma children between ages 10 and 19 have primary education only, and more than 50 per cent of children dropping out of school are of Roma origin. This creates the preconditions for more social marginalisation, poverty and crime. More often than not, Roma children represent the majority of children in auxiliary schools: so closing down those schools would theoretically give them a better chance for inclusion – if they do not drop out. The tricky part, as always, is accompanying measures. But the stake is certainly worth the effort. “I do not work for inclusion,” says Decheva, “I work for my grandchildren’s future.
Everybody will have to live together in Bulgaria”.
If you want to learn more on this subject: www.1school4all.org, www.savethechildrenbg.org
