The study program for Special Education and Rehabilitation within the Faculty of Pedagogy in Tetovo together with the Institute for Special Education and Rehabilitation within the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, on December 02, 2021, organized a round table on the occasion of 3rd December , International Day of Persons with Disability , on the topic: “Inclusive Education in the Republic of North Macedonia”.
Due to the pandemic – Covid 19, the event was conducted in a hybrid manner (with physical presence and online). This event took place in the amphitheater of the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje.
The round table was greeted and pronounced by the Prof Dr. Ratko Duev- Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, Prof. Dr. Lulzim Mehmedi – Dean of the Faculty of Pedagogy at the University of Tetova, Natasha Cicevska, Head of the Institute of Special Education and Rehabilitation in Skopje, Prof. Dr. Buniamin Memedi, Vice -Dean for Education of the Faculty of Pedagogy at UT, Goran Tomshiq, representative from the Ministry of Education and Science, Prof. Dr. Goran Ajdinski, Goran Petrushevski, directors of special schools-respectively resource centers in the Republic of North Macedonia.
Dean of the Faculty of Pedagogy at UT, prof dr. Lulzim Mehmedi in his speech, congratulated the 3rd December, International Day of Persons with Disability, hoping that we do not remain marked only this day, but to respect, to care , to educate, to breed, protect and rehabilitate them throughout the year. These people require to be equal, to live independently and to function in society.
Inclusive education is the enrollment of all children in mainstream schools, where they are given education as needed.
People with special needs are still on the margins of society. These people need social protection in all areas of social life: education, health, employment, and other activities.
Vice-Dean for Education of the Faculty of Pedagogy at UT, prof. Dr. Buniamin Memedi, recalling the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Law on Primary Education, stressed that our country still does not provide adequate space, human resources to ensure access to education for all children and adolescents with disabilities. The philosophy of inclusive education contains the radical concept of transformation of society in all its segments, changing values, priorities and policies that support the permanent practice of exclusion and discrimination.
Children with special needs should attend the nearest and most appropriate school. Now, some of them attend the nearest school, but not the most suitable one. The ESR study program at UT since its first accreditation in 2012, 7 years before the Law on Primary Education was adopted, established two subjects directly related to the inclusion process – Inclusive Practice and Learning Disabilities and 5 subjects. indirectly related to the inclusion process, while in the master studies in all three programs there are 2 subjects, directly related to inclusion.
Children who learn to be educated together will learn to live together.
