TEHRAN - The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, has organized a series of training of trainers (TOT) workshops, to improve support services in schools across seven provinces of the country.

The measure was taken in line with the recently introduced national initiative, SIRAT (Integrated System for Development and Education).

The goal is to give all students, including children with disabilities, the chance to benefit from improved support in mainstream schools and services such as early detection, timely intervention, and an effective referral system.

Some 750 selected teachers from all over the country participated in SIRAT TOT workshops, which were held from June 13 to August 3.

The workshops, supported financially by the European Union, were held in Khorasan Razavi, Kerman, Isfahan, Fars, Tehran, Kermanshah, Ardabil, and Mazandaran provinces.

The next phase will involve these educators conducting cascade training sessions within their respective provinces and districts.

The objective is to equip approximately 360,000 primary-level teachers with comprehensive knowledge about SIRAT.

Furthermore, these mainstream teachers will be trained to effectively identify, intervene, and facilitate referrals to specialized services for children with disabilities, while preventing stigmatization and labeling, the UNICEF website announced in a press release on August 27.

As a result, primary school students, who are the main beneficiaries of this plan, receive enhanced individual support at school tailored to their developmental needs.

This assistance will be offered within the school environment and, if necessary, through comprehensive centers that offer specialized support, the report said.

Based on the latest official statistics published in 2021, 142,000 students with disabilities were enrolled in formal education; including 65,000 students with disabilities who study in inclusive mainstream schools.

Despite the significant growth in the number of inclusive schools (20 percent of total schools), students with disabilities still face many challenges to integrate into the mainstream system.

 One of the main goals of these programs is to support the inclusiveness of public services for children with disabilities, through measures such as improving physical accessibility and providing accessible educational resources in public schools. UNICEF also supports targeted interventions such as providing tools and assistive technologies and training teachers in special education schools with the aim of removing the barriers that children with disabilities face.

UNICEF, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, is trying to provide quality, inclusive education for all children.

The focus is on bolstering disability inclusion within mainstream services through measures like enhancing physical accessibility and providing educational resources within mainstream schools.

Additionally, UNICEF is devising targeted interventions specifically aimed at removing barriers faced by children with disabilities, such as providing assistive technologies and training for special education teachers, the report added.

MT/MG