With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting both educators and students alike, the circumstances faced by learners with special needs requires a slew of interventions to maximize their potential, said Senator Joel Villanueva.
Villanueva, chair of the Senate Committee on Higher and Technical and Vocational Education, urged his colleagues to pass Senate Bill No. 1907 or the Inclusive Education Act, which institutes various mechanisms and programs to support the needs of learners with disabilities.
“Meeting the needs of SPED has been a challenge long before the coronavirus pandemic,” the veteran legislator said in his speech. “The COVID-19 has demonstrated and put to the front the inequality and disadvantage that has always existed in education in general and special education in particular.”
“It takes a village to raise a child, yes. But what more of raising a child with exceptionalities?”
“It takes a village to raise a child, yes. But what more of raising a child with exceptionalities? The intervention of SPED teachers is not enough to develop the maximum potentials of learners with disabilities,” pointed out the seasoned lawmaker, who is also vice chair of the Senate basic education committee.
The senator explained that the measure promotes a multidisciplinary approach in providing for the needs of the learners, engaging from doctors, therapists, and behaviorists, to teachers, tutors and even nannies.
“Above all good reasons and purposes, the bill seeks to break the culture of pity for learners with disabilities. It can be done through a whole-of-community approach to providing quality education especially tailored for children and youth with special needs,” continued Villanueva, whose bill was incorporated into the committee report sponsored by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the Senate basic education committee.
Under the bill, the education department will be mandated to establish special education (SPED) centers in all public schools to promote inclusive education and meet the needs of children and youth with disabilities and other special needs. The SPED Centers will function as a resource center that will assist in promoting inclusive education to capacitate regular schools to effectively handle the needs of children and youth with disability.
He explained that while the term “SPED” has become a “buzzword” in the education community, it has remained a difficult topic among those mandated to implement it.
“That’s why we need this bill, first and foremost, to address the ‘conceptual confusion’ and to provide an overarching legal framework for our learners or students with disabilities,” Villanueva stressed.
“The measure seeks to include SPED in the public school system by making explicit the rights of students who require special education services.”
He said the measure seeks to include SPED in the public school system by “making explicit the rights of students who require special education services.”
“Naniniwala po tayo na kailangan ang panukalang batas na ito para mabigyang daan ang training at hiring ng mas maraming SPED teachers sa DepEd at mabago rin ang kalakaran sa pagtatayo ng mga SPED Centers,” Villanueva said.
“Marami pong eskwelahan na nagtatayo ng SPED center kahit hindi naman malinaw sa kanila ang layunin ng SPED program. Ang resulta, walang sapat na mekanismo para i-identify o tukuyin ang mga batang may espesyal na pangangailangan, walang sapat na mga Learning Resource Centers, at higit sa lahat, walang mga SPED teachers na may special training at capability,” he added.
At present, Villanueva said, there are only around 4,000 SPED teachers in the public schools and the bill would address the need to increase that number. “This is also in conjunction with our on-going efforts to reform the pre-service training, licensure exam, and in-service training of our teachers,” he noted.