The FPSC and Bethlehem University have jointly developed a research study on “special education services that Palestinian schools offer to children with learning difficulties.” During the month of February this study has been published and distributed to all relevant actors in the sector, including the Palestinian Ministry of Education (MoEHE) and all schools and collaborating centers with the FPSC.
The study was led by Dr. Samir Duqmaq prestigious researcher, Associate Professor of Special Education at Al-Ain University for Science and Technology (UAE), and is part of the efforts undertaken by the FPSC and UB to improve the situation of children with special educational needs in Palestine.
These efforts have been channeled through the implementation of the AECID Agreement “Improving the quality of primary and secondary education in the Palestinian Territories” (10-C01-107) with a duration of four years (2010-2014), which has benefited 58 schools in the areas of Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Hebron; and that continues today, with the joint implementation of a teacher training project funded by the Nando Peretti Foundation.
The situation of children with special educational needs in Palestine is very complex. On the one hand, the Ministry of Education and major donors promote the implementation of an inclusive education system; and on the other, parents, students and teachers complain that the education system does not have the minimum conditions necessary to serve these students.
The research study conducted by the FPSC and the University of Bethlehem in 58 schools in three districts analyzed in depth the reality of the services offered by the centers, expectations of students and teachers and the results of an irregular implementation of ministerial guidelines, in order to assess what the real needs of these students are today and what resources and tools would be needed to cover them.
Barbara Drake, the FPSC Coordinator of Education and Child Protection in the Palestinian Territories, defines the importance of this study: “It’s the first time they performed such a comprehensive study on Special Education in Palestine. It is a key tool for designing educational policies and strategies of the sector in the coming years. The results are surprising, and show that the main problem is the lack of national standards and qualified personnel. There are schools that offer comparable services to any other country in the world, and a few kilometers away there are others in which children with special educational needs are not even properly diagnosed.”