Mercy Corps supports Sewar’s educational progress amidst COVID-19 crisis
As a mother nurturing her daughter in a conservative neighborhood, where not all community members have tolerance to engage with children with disabilities and where health-related stigma towards this group still prevails. Mrs. Randa Al-Atrash joyfully shared her story with Mercy Corps on how the physical and educational services provided to her 11 years-old daughter with Down syndrome had left the greatest impact on her life.
“Sewar was in a special education centre for the period of her previous education”. Her mother mentions. “We had the opportunity through Mercy Corps to transfer her to a public school. The beginning was a bit difficult like all beginnings for Sewar to become integrated at school”. Sewar’s mother adds that for the first three years of Sewar’s education, she struggled all by herself to get her daughter to learn reading and writing skills, but couldn’t yield success.
In Jordanian laws, children with disabilities have the right to education in an environment that accommodates their physical and psychological needs and to be merged with students who are not disabled. Despite the Government of Jordan’s consistent efforts and collaboration with multiple INGOs serving this societal segment, yet, the number of students with disabilities benefiting from educational services does not exceed 20,000. According to the Ministry of Education statistics, this number constitutes 1.9% of the total number of students in Jordan, a striking figure that requires an urgent call for action by the government, the NGO’s community and other key-players.
Through its Inclusive Education Program funded by the EU and UNICEF, Mercy Corps has mitigated for Sewar’s family’s struggle – like many other families benefiting from the program – in improving her acquisition of pre-reading and pre-writing skills. Initially, Mercy Corps secured an admission for Sewar at a public school near her house, and ensured that a resources-room for students with disabilities was equipped with the needed tools and equipment. Mercy Corps also focuses on the surrounding environment of the child with disability, whether inside the classroom or in dealing with the outer community. There, every individual has to positively contribute to the learning journey of these children, including classmates, parents of other classmates, teachers at all levels and the neighboring community. Hence, Mercy Corps, through its properly trained shadow teachers, conducted awareness-raising sessions to classmates, teachers, and parents who are in direct contact with Sewar in her community. These efforts have mediated for Sewar’s integration at school and made her feel that it is her right to be at school with other children her age to learn and play collectively.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has left severe repercussions across all dynamic sectors, including education, schools closed and online teaching was the only government alternative to resume education. It was imperative for Mercy Corps to guarantee the same consistency and right to education for children with disabilities during these unprecedented times; dedicated teachers for this social group started providing online classes to these children, or in certain occasions, teachers recorded the classes and sent them to parents.
Mrs. Al Atrash mentions to Mercy Corps: “We were compelled to keep Sewar at home, but Mercy Corps gave us the opportunity to continue providing personalized educational support, we started with online education for Sewar with Mercy Corps, through daily consecutive online sessions such as pre-writing and pre-reading skills. This has helped Sewar to tremendously restore her energy and confidence, and to realize she has the right to education like her peers.”
Sewar’s mother and teachers shared their outstanding experience with Sewar’s case; in a matter of three months Sewar was able to gain pre-writing skills none of which existed before, such as fixing the paper when writing, holding the pen in a functional way and cutting straight lines. Sewar also improved her cognitive skills of classifying and distinguishing colors and geometric shapes and linking things.
In Jordan, inclusive education is perceived by the government and other education-related agencies, to be the most effective approach to enhance access to equal education to all citizens. Students with disabilities should enjoy their rights to education, to enable them to reach the fullest potential and academic abilities and receive services with equality.
Since 2018, the European Union has supported Mercy Corps to help children with disabilities through personalized educational resources and rehabilitation sessions. To date, Mercy Corps has reached, with the support from UNICEF and the European Union, around 1,400 children with disabilities in inclusive education support, including 680 male and 720 female students, 238 shadow teachers have conducted around 20,378 awareness-raising sessions to their local communities across Jordan on inclusive education and the importance of integrating children with disabilities in their schools and communities. The program has equipped 907 resources-rooms in public schools across all governorates for supporting these children’s education and conducted rehabilitation for 563 children.
Mercy Corps has been leading inclusive education programming for children with disabilities since 2008. Our holistic approach provides Jordanian and Syrian children with disabilities with personalized support, training educators to identify and assist them with appropriate tools. It also offers Jordanian schools new systems to ensure access to equitable learning opportunities and works with communities to raise awareness around these children.
Additionally, Mercy Corps plays an active advocacy role in institutionalizing inclusive education policies in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
