Ministry Continues to Boost Special Education Programmes

The Ministry of Education and Youth continues to boost its special education programmes as well as provide the resources and support needed to the families.

Responding to questions during Wednesday`s (August 16) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, Acting Chief Education Officer in the Ministry, Dr. Kasan Troupe, said that no child or parent who reaches out for assistance will be turned back.

“We must find the resources. In so doing, we have put together a Special Education Unit in the Ministry of Education, and that Unit is tasked to monitor all our special education schools, both public and private. That Unit is tasked to work with our special education private educational institutions,” she pointed out.

Dr. Troupe said the Ministry works with 17 special education institutions and supports two other organisations.

“In these institutions, we place students. At this point in time, I believe we have 719 students under the partnership arrangement and we do incur about $300 million a year to cover the funding costs to have these students access specialised services in these institutions,” she noted.

“For our public education institutions, we have 10 public education institutions and in some of our other regular settings, we have what we call pull-out special education classes. We have about 15 of those across the sector, and we do provide special educators in addition to the regular teaching staff tied to the enrolment of the school for those students who are being served,” Dr. Troupe informed.

She said the students are placed in special centres following assessment by key personnel, such as diagnosticians, psychologists and clinicians.

The Acting Chief Education Officer said the Ministry has also been working with the special needs community to provide the resources required, including personnel, books, tablets and laptops, among others.

She said approximately 500 shadows – who provide one-on-one support in classrooms – are being compensated by the Ministry.

Dr. Troupe informed that key partnerships are being built out with institutions that offer occupational services to continue supporting the children.