HERE’S one good development – a bill instituting a wide range of services for learners with disabilities inches closer to getting passed into law, with the Senate approving Senate Bill 1907 or the “Inclusive Education” Bill.
The proposed bill stipulates that “no learner with disability shall be denied admission and inclusion in any public or private early or basic education school in the country to afford such learners with equitable opportunities to educational services and programs.”
The House of Representatives has already passed on third and final reading its version of the proposed bill numbered House Bill 8080 on Dec. 7, 2020, with 197 House members voting in the affirmative. What’s left is for the Senate to pass the proposed bill on third and final reading before it gets transmitted to the President for signing.
Learners with disabilities are learners in the general early and basic education system who require additional support and adaptive pedagogic methods due to their long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments, which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
One of the highlights of the bill is the landmark recognition that learners with disabilities need to be mainstreamed in regular age-appropriate school settings with the provision of needed supplementary aid and “in order to prepare them to live as fully functioning members of society.”
This is the heart of the principle of inclusive education: that education for learners with disabilities should mean the creation of nurturing and inclusive educational environments that enable these learners to be free from peer alienation and all other forms of discrimination that arise in the prevailing “special class” setups.
There must be a holistic approach for learners with disabilities. Passing the Inclusive Education Bill can significantly address the limited access to public education of the majority of the 5.5 million learners with disabilities as reported by the Department of Education, as the bill seeks to create a responsive “system for identification, referral, and intervention” for learners with disabilities in partnership with stakeholders.
SB 1907 mandates “DepEd, in collaboration with local government units” to establish and maintain at least one Inclusive Learning Resource Center (ILRC) in all cities and municipalities. It also converts all existing SPED centers into ILRCs.
Oh yes, teachers must be provided with ample training on inclusive education, and the creation of instructional materials that would address several barriers that make it difficult for children with disabilities to learn.
