Today, amalgamated hromadas have received a route map for the establishment of inclusive resource centres on the ground. These are defined goals, objectives, projects that need to be implemented to enable children with special needs to acquire education at the level of their peers, emphasised Hennadii Zubko, Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine, during the training for the heads of the AHs in Zhytomyr.

“Attention to children with special needs and equal opportunities for their development are an integral part of the human potential development. And decentralisation with its opportunities is precisely the way fully ensuring the principles of educational accessibility and inclusiveness in Ukraine. Every educational institution should provide education to children, regardless of their physical capabilities and needs, in accordance with the European requirements,” said Hennadii Zubko.

The Vice Prime Minister stressed that today the Zhytomyr Oblast is a leader in the implementation of the decentralisation reform and is among the five oblasts leading in terms of the number of established hromadas. “The hromada influences the quality of service provision in educational, healthcare, social and administrative domains, etc. It is important that children do not feel the difference in the quality of education, regardless of where they live – in Kyiv, Zhytomyr or in the remote hromada. Education should be of a high quality and accessible everywhere,” Mr Zubko said.

He noted that introduction of inclusive education is important not only in terms of compliance of premises with a designated standard. The idea is to introduce new methods, in particular, inclusive and resource rooms, in order to maximally incorporate the education of children with special needs within the conditions of the New Educational Space and hub schools.

The Vice Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to the Poroshenko Foundation and personally to Maryna Poroshenko, the wife of the President, for initiating legislative changes in the direction of inclusive education and developing methodological recommendations. “It is necessary to introduce training of specialists who will teach children with special needs. We also look forward to cooperating in these issues with the U-LEAD with Europe Programme with its 24 Local Government Development Centres in Ukraine,” the official said.

As a result of the training, the agreements on the establishment of 30 inclusive and resource centres (IRC) were concluded with heads of AHs and Rayon State Administrations.