The lack of access to facilities and lack of assistants are the main problems that children with disabilities continue to face. It is the parents of children with disabilities who seek help from the state for the employment of assistants, and the Government promises that within four years, 500 assistants will be employed.
Uran Rrahmani is a seventh-grade student, who attends classes at the school “Mihal Grameno” in Fushe Kosovo. Due to the lack of an elevator, its classroom is the only one on the ground floor.
He is accompanied to school every day by his mother, and for him they also pay an assistant who helps him during the teaching process.
Mimoza Bytyqi-Rrahmani, Uran’s mother, says access and lack of assistants are the main problems faced by parents with children with disabilities.
“As you saw we entered the classroom there is access, it is very easy to enter and get to the classroom. But it does not mean that it is same everywhere. We hope that the access that is the first thing will be enabled also in other public spaces. Lack of a toilet for people with disabilities that is also accessible, which is not in the school where Uranus attends classes. Then an elevator where you can go to other spaces besides the first floor”, she said.
She says that she hopes that with the announcement of 2022, as the year of people with disabilities, the realization of promises to provide better conditions for these children will begin.
” The state has never employed assistants, we have hired assistants privately, we have paid them, and it is very difficult to find them, they are not adequate staff, it means we must then choose to get one who is good, is loving, even though he or she may not have the proper professional training. At the moment this is the situation, we are waiting for those promises to be realized”, she said.
Eldin Gashi, representative of the advocacy group for children with disabilities “Hëna”, states that the first barrier faced by these children is the lack of access.
“At the entrance of a facility that does not have access for children with disabilities, there we find the biggest barrier for a person with disabilities because Kosovo has not created access for those children. We are seeking access to make us feel inclusive in society… We want to have access, and to be more inclusive in society and not to have discrimination or prejudice for us so that we feel as free as possible”, he said.
The Minister of Education, Arbërie Nagavci, says that they are informed with the difficulties that children with disabilities have, emphasizing that for this year they have budgeted the employment of 100 assistants.
The Minister of Education says that during the next four years they will work on improving the physical infrastructure of school facilities, but also promises the employment of 500 assistants for children with disabilities.
“Within our governing mandate, we will ensure that we have at least 500 assistants in our educational institutions. So, for the next four years we will employ 100 assistants each year and what is important is that I believe that we will have the opportunity, that in cooperation with our partners working in this direction… we will make sure that teachers who work with children with special needs in their classrooms should be competent to provide education for these children as well”, says Nagavci.
Although he calls the employment of assistants an important step, Rinor Qehaja from the EdGuard Institute, says that the government should also invest in their professional development.
“We do not think that this is the solution to the whole problem, it is then the professional development of these assistants, their dedication, an accountability of the same that would provide us with a result from their engagement. So, we do not need administrative commitment of assistants, we need assistants who have a sufficient methodological and pedagogical capacity to provide that support and teaching for these categories of students “, says Qehaja.
According to him, investments in school infrastructure for children with disabilities should be a priority of the local level.
This year has been announced by the Government of Kosovo as a year of people with disabilities, where numerous activities will be organized throughout the year.
