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015 - Towards Inclusive Education in Armenia, Bridge of Hope, Armenia
CONTACT
Bridge of Hope
Ms. Susanna Tadevosyan
Armenia
+37 491 40 52 19
OVERALL GOAL /MISSION
The overall mission is to enable children with disabilities and special education needs to have the equal opportunities as
their peers and an access to the education system, so that they can realize their rights to get education and live an
active life in dignity within their communities.
THE SOLUTION THAT HAS BEEN DEVELOPED
In Armenia teaching and learning methods in schools are, and remain, rigid, teacher centered and old-fashioned. An
approach to segregate persons with disabilities from their peers is common within the teacher training and pre-service
practices. The universities, that are responsible for the qualification of the teachers, teach future general education and
special education teachers in different programs and in different settings. There is also a lack of support for inclusive
schools, because they are normally left alone to organize education for children with disabilities in mainstream classes.
In addition, parents do not have access to support services and information and there is still a rife stigmatization of
children with disabilities that prevents them from being fully included. Further do the development programs, policies
and laws not support the idea of inclusion within the education system. Therefore the project team wants to increase
the number of inclusive schools, especially to develop models and mechanisms that make it easier for children with
disabilities to get an access to an inclusive education system, also to increase knowledge and understanding within the
Armenian State Pedagogic University about the principles of inclusive education and inclusive pedagogy, so that it is
able to prepare future teachers to teach in an inclusive way and to qualify them in inclusive teaching and learning
methods, that they are prepared to meet the diversity of needs of children in a classroom. The raising of the number of
inclusive schools shall also have the purpose to be able to test and propose clear mechanisms and policy guidelines for
the transformation of special schools into psycho-pedagogical support centers to be inclusive schools and kindergartens,
furthermore to empower parents of children with disabilities to motivate them to join parent support groups and act as
guardians of proper inclusion of their children in inclusive schools. Inclusive schools shall also be installed to combat
wrong and negative prejudices about children with disabilities and to form a coalition of disability organizations that
ring in a paradigm shift towards a rights-based approach.