DUSHANBE, July 3, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- An inclusive summer school, We Are All Different but Equal, opened in the Varzob district on July 3.

Organized with support from the Public Health Program of the Tajik Branch of Open Society Institute/Assistance Foundation (OSI/AF-Tajikistan), the event will last till July 13.  It is the second inclusive summer school, We Are Different but Equal, organized by OSCE/AF-Tajikistan for children with different opportunities and abilities between the ages of 10-14.

The Higher Education Support Program coordinator Zarrina Qodirova says the main objective of that summer school is in organizing joint stay and the rest of children with special educational needs and non-disabled children.

“The inclusive summer school schedule includes cultural-educational and health programs,” said Ms. Qodirova, “The summer school gives an opportunity for not only the joint rest and improvement of health of the children, it also gives an opportunity for co-education and communication of them.”        

Inclusion in the context of education is the practice, in which students with special educational needs spend most or all of their time with non-disabled students. Implementation of this practice varies; schools can use it for selected students with mild to severe special needs.  Inclusive education differs from previously held notions of ‘integration’ and ‘mainstreaming’, which tended to be concerned principally with disability and ‘special educational needs’ and implied learners changing or becoming ‘ready for’ accommodation by the mainstream.  By contrast, inclusion is about the child’s right to participate and the school’s duty to accept the child.  Inclusion rejects the use of special schools or classrooms to separate students with disabilities from students without disabilities.  A premium is placed upon full participation by students with disabilities and upon respect for their social, civil, and educational rights.