We really want people with disabilities in Kazakhstan to realize their right to education.
In 2018, our organization carried out the implementation of the unique project “Synergy for inclusion” in defense of the rights of children with disabilities to education. Within the framework of the project, for the first time in Kazakhstan, large-scale monitoring of the provision of public services by the psycho-medical-pedagogical commission, an organization that is often a barrier to access to the education of a special child, was carried out.
Project goal: Creating the possibility of obtaining education at the place of residence according to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
For the first time, it was our organization that raised the issue of the lack of access to education for children in social centers for day care, centers for round-the-clock living in social institutions (LSGs), the provision of reliable static data on the real coverage of education of children with complex diseases, the percentage of home-school attendance.
Within the framework of the project, valid statistics on the coverage of children with disabilities by education were widely discussed. According to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, one third of children with disabilities in Kazakhstan are enrolled. This is not more than 20,000 children from 86,000 total. Of the 20,000 children, the vast majority of children studying are physically disabled. Children with mental disabilities study in special schools and in home schooling. More than 70,000 children are not covered by education, as they attend day care centers.
Key recommendations to the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan:
- To secure for a child with a disability the right to choose the organization of education at his place of residence. To reduce the stay of children in home schooling.
- To include children in institutions of social protection of open and closed type with inclusive education.