Emirati teachers train for special needs students

A bespoke course for training Emirati women as Teacher Assistants to facilitate inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream public schools will be rolled out tomorrow at British University in Dubai (BUiD).

The UAE Down Syndrome Association (UAEDSA) is implementing the programme in collaboration with BUiD and UAE's leading philanthropic organisation, the Emirates Foundation.

Sonia Al Hashmi, Chairperson of the UAE Down Syndrome Association, told reporters that the Teacher Assistant training programme comes as a translation of a memorandum of understanding the Association signed with the Ministry of Education.

Al Hashmi added the MoU would effectively help integrate people with Down syndrome in Government Schools, while enhancing the strategic directions of the Association.

The Ministry of Education plans to create a national employment cadre of Teacher Assistants for the first time within its organisation to engage these teacher assistants by October of 2013.

The Teacher Assistant training programme is an opportunity for Emirati Women with secondary school education and unemployed graduates to take up a career in teaching.

Dr Eman Gaad, Project Director and the Dean of Faculty of Education, BUiD, said the programme would deliver educational objectives of of inclusion of children with Down Syndrome in mainstream public schools along with their natural peers.

"The programme is a real investment in national human capital especially secondary school graduates and university unemployed graduates," she added.

Some 23 trainees from Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Al Ain will engage in the programme.
 

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