DepEd Order 72, s. 2009 stated as Inclusive Education as Strategy for Increasing Participation rate of Children. According to this, the Special Education in the Philippines has only served 2 % of the targeted 2.2 million children with disabilities in the countries who lived without access to a basic human right: the right to education. Most of these children live in rural and far flung areas whose parents need to be aware of educational opportunities that these children could avail of.
There is a millennium goal of 2015 stating that no child should be left behind with regards to education. The Department of Education guarantees the rights for these children to receive appropriate education within the regular or inclusive classroom setting.
DepEd’s Inclusive Education Program gives every child equal opportunity to attend formal education regardless of their abilities and disabilities with the support from the whole educational system and stake holders.
There are three options for this program. The first option is that children with special needs shall be provided educational services in a school and be in a self-contained class for children with similar disabilities. The second is inclusion of a child in a general education or regular class together with peers under the supervision of the regular teacher or SPED trained teacher who will give the child’s needs. And lastly, is the resource room wherein the child with disabilities will be pulled out from the regular class and report to a SPED teacher which provides his educational needs.
Parents and teachers should join forces to convince children especially those with disabilities to enroll and undergo formal education for some were hesitant to attend schooling due to different reasons such as bullying and discrimination. But this program of DepEd opens the opportunity to every Filipino child with special needs to fulfill their dreams, be a part of the society with supportive environment and become a productive citizen of the future.
By: Meldy C. Mañalac | Teacher II | Townsite Elementary School | Mariveles, Bataan
