Teachers are the key agents of change to transform education and ensure quality and inclusive education for all children in their communities regardless of their abilities or background. Nisreen was part of the school team that participated in the pilot capacity development process provided by UNESCO and GIZ to support the Ministry of Education and the Higher Council of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to move towards greater inclusion and diversity in education. The process included 30 pilot schools in Ajloun, Marka, and Karak and focuses on understanding better inclusion and diversity in education and how teaching and environment can be improved for all students to effectively participate and learn in the classroom.
Nisreen explained, 鈥淒uring the first session, one of the mothers who has a child with autism stood in front of everyone and spoke about the difficulties and challenges that her child faced as a marginalized person in society. The mother talked about inclusive education and how it helps her, her family, and her child to be part of society. She invited parents to urge their children to accept and believe in inclusive education as an opportunity for diversity and to leave no one behind鈥.
The positive impact of the first session prompted Nisreen to continue and move forward with the inclusive education plan. Teacher Nisreen, with a team from her school, participated in several workshops on inclusion and diversity in education facilitated by UNESCO. Teachers received guidance and mentoring also through a practical manual with tools to help them mainstream inclusive education within their school communities. Over 175 teachers, school principals, counselors, resource room teachers and other school personnel from the 30 pilot schools have been part of this process and were able to then reach over 3000 people within their school communities.
At Dahiet Prince Hassan School, where there are approximately 80 students with disabilities and learning difficulties, several awareness sessions were held with teachers to ensure that a qualified educational team can deal with students with disabilities and ensure a healthy and welcoming school environment for all students. Sessions were also conducted with students and parents to raise their awareness on this topic.
Teacher Nisreen said that at the beginning, she experienced resistance at various levels, sometimes from parents of students with disabilities and parents of students without disabilities, or even from some teachers. However, from one session to another, Nisreen began to witness a remarkable change inside the school, including in her students鈥 behavior within the class with their peers with disabilities.
The support to teachers and schools has led to new enrolment of students with disabilities in different schools in Ajloun, Marka and Karak. A mother of an eight-year-old Syrian refugee student, Muhannad, shared her story, saying: 鈥淚 had a lot of difficulties with my child, especially when he was diagnosed with autism. My son didn't want to go to school, and he didn't like it. The fact that the teaching staff wasn't trained to deal with Muhannad's case made it more difficult. But, when I learned about this inclusive Jordanian public school in Karak, I enrolled Muhannad in it. Since then, his behavior has changed completely with his siblings and father at home, and more importantly, now he loves going to school to learn and see his friends鈥.
