PARENTS OF STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS WILL RETURN TO SCHOOL, TOO

24 October 2020 12:22

The Ministry of National Education which decided to start full time face to face education for students with special needs starting as of October 26, is planning new activities in order to support parents of students with special needs. The Directorate General of Lifelong Learning of the Ministry has prepared a 12-course parent training program. As a part of this program, parents of students with special needs will return to school with their children in an effort to develop their daily life, self-care and communication skills and receive emotional support. Minister of National Education attended a parent training class at the Mamak Public Training Center in Ankara. "For the first time in its history, our Ministry has prepared 12 course programs for the families of children with special needs," said Selçuk, "Being the mother, father, sibling and even grandmother or grandfather of a child with disability is a special situation. We want to give emotional support to the parents and make their life easier by boosting their knowledge."
 
The Ministry of National Education started a new training program for the families of students with special needs. These programs specially designed for different groups varying from "parents of orthopedically handicapped students or students with chronic illness" to "parents of children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder" and include classes aiming at supporting self-care, daily life, language and communication skills of students with special needs and their family members. Minister Selçuk visited the Ankara Mamak Public Training Center to meet with these parents.
 
Before attending this training program, Minister Selçuk had the opportunity to chat with students who are receiving vocational courses in kitchen and dry cleaning workshops of the training center.
 
Later, Minister Selçuk attended a class with parents of students with special needs and made a brief speech at the end of the class. Noting that the Ministry had opened a 715-course program for 5 different disability groups in order to increase lifelong learning opportunity of students needing special training, Minister Selçuk stated, "We are working in an effort to increase their education opportunities but we also want to support their parents. We know that the mother, father, sibling and even grandfather or grandmother of a child with disability has to be special, too."
 
Selçuk went on to say that, "We would like to give emotional support with the course you chose according to the disability of your child and make your life easier by increasing your knowledge."
 
"Usually, at least demand of 12 people is needed in order to open a course in Public Training Centers but a single demand will be enough to open a course for the training of parents of students with special needs," said Selçuk adding that, "The course may be organized in the evenings or during the weekends according to the demands of parents. These courses will always continue. Number and variety of these training programs may vary depending on needs and demands."