Algeria/ People with special needs: meeting in Algiers to mark World Braille Day

A meeting on Braille techniques for the visually impaired was held in Algiers on Saturday, to mark World Braille Day on January 4 each year.

Soraya Mouloudji, Minister of National Solidarity, the Family and the Status of Women, stated in a speech read on her behalf by the Ministry's Chief of Staff, Boubakeur Seddik Bouzidi, that "the sector adopts a comprehensive and participatory policy aimed at preserving and promoting the rights of people with special needs, in particular their right to specialized education and teaching".the sector adopts a comprehensive and participatory policy aimed at preserving and promoting the rights of people with special needs, in particular their right to specialized education and teaching".

The sector is "continuing its efforts to guarantee the right to education for the visually impaired", the Minister added, pointing out that "mechanisms adapted to their situation have been put in place, in particular provisions for special education".These include legal provisions and specialized teaching support, as well as assistive technologies in the form of specialized aids and equipment".

The sector, continues the Minister, oversees an institutional network of specialized education and teaching, comprising "239 specialized establishments and 19 annexes, catering for over 36,000 children with special needs, including 24 schools for visually impaired children. These establishments also provide psychological and educational support," adds Ms. Mouloudji.

She emphasized the role of specialized establishments in "adapting educational and pedagogical programs in line with teaching methods and resources, and to the needs of children with special needs".to teaching methods and resources and to the specific needs of the various educational levels, while mobilizing some 15.000 multidisciplinary pedagogical and educational supervisors".

She also spoke of the special attention paid by the national solidarity sector to reinforcing the use of assistive technologies in specialized schools, such as Braille textbooks.She also highlighted the role of associations in providing educational care for children with special needs, notably through the opening of specialized centers in this field.

For her part, Radia Bernaoui, Director of the Institut national de recherche en éducation (INRE), said that the Institute was working to intensify efforts and develop studies aimed at improving teaching methods for the visually impaired.A space has been set aside for the visually impaired in the Institute's multimedia library, with a special section of documents in Braille.

For his part, Mohamed Lahouali, President of the Algerian National Organization of the Blind (ONAA), praised the State's efforts to take care of people with specicific needs, notably through the resources made available to them in the field of education and teaching, including for the visually impaired.

The meeting was attended by heads of national bodies, as well as representatives of sectors and associations active in this field.

Source: www.aps.dz/