The Education Ministry has outlined its determination to ensure that students benefit from all available scholarly studies no matter what challenges some of them may face.
It says partnerships with multiple institutes and community organisations are the key to the success of numerous programmes and plans that have been put in place to assist students with disabilities and those facing personal circumstances beyond their control.
“The ministry pays great attention to students with disabilities by providing educational programmes appropriate to their abilities and needs,” said ministry Assistant Under-Secretary Latifa Al Bunudha.
“All of whom are under the supervision of a highly-qualified cadre of professional managers in this field.”
The ministry earlier outlined its steadfast support of students with disabilities, adding that 22 hearing-impaired students, for example, had been integrated into the national school system.
Currently 40 students are also enrolled at the Saudi Bahraini Institute for the Blind and they are all either in the process of or have already been integrated into 33 schools.
Bahrain Mobility International (BMI) has enrolled 48 children aged three to six to Azhar Al Harak Kindergarten to aid them in the process of overcoming their physical disabilities and mobility issues to enable them to confidently join into the Bahrain schools system.
The Education Ministry added that 471 students with intellectual disabilities and Down syndrome were accepted and thriving at 60 boys’ and girls’ schools across the country.
(Shaheen Albalouchie)
1.Blind student Shaheen Albalouchie cannot wait to join his new classmates at Uqba Bin Nafeh Primary School for Boys this coming September.
The nine-year-old has been visiting the school twice-a-week as part of the integration process and has made it a habit to arrive at the premises at the crack of dawn to enjoy time in the school’s garden and handle two little birds that have been placed under his care.
“The birds are called Hamood and Shaheen,” the youngster told the GDN. “I named the first bird after my brother because I love him and the second one after me because I’m a hero like him.
“I love holding their warm bodies and feeling their soft feathers. Especially when they start chirping, it is a really lovely sound to hear.”
There have been countless studies that attest on the therapeutic benefits that animals and greenery have on people with and without disabilities.
“We have had help from the Bahrain-Saudi Institute for the Blind,” Shaheen’s mother, Rozan Albalouchie told the GDN. “They gave us the guidance necessary to be able to communicate through Braille and to allow Shaheen to experience the beauty of the world through his other senses.
“Right now, undeterred by the obstacle of his blindness, my son dreams to be an actor inspired by his favourite show Sowalef Tafash.”
(Sarah and Ali)
2.Grateful mother Zainab Mohammed is confident her children Sarah and Ali, who both suffer from a condition causing a weakness to their bones and pelvis, will prosper with support and help from educationists and the community.
“They are both enrolled with BMI,” said the 31-year-old. “They have access to the same opportunities as every other child, with the addition of physiotherapy being provided.
“What has mattered most has been the continuous efforts to ingrain motivation into the heart of the students.”
She explained how through the work of the institute, her six-year-old daughter Sarah, has been able to walk, despite her weakness, and she is now well underway to attend Al Salam Girls Primary School next semester.
“There is a quote my daughter said in an online contest once, ‘being challenged is not the end of life’,” Ms Mohammed added. “She won that competition and I’m so proud of her for all the progress she has made.”
Currently, her five-year-old son, Ali, will be undergoing physiotherapy sessions alongside his sister, and they have registered for a swimming course under BMI to aid in increasing their strength and confidence next August.
(Mr Al Dossari)
3. Road accident victim Meshal Al Dossari hopes his progress from a hospital bed to university will inspire young people facing their own challenges to never give up with their ambitions.
“I was 17 years old when an accident threw my whole world upside down in 2007,” said document controller Meshal Al Dossari, now aged 33.
“My left arm and leg were badly weakened, my speech and voice became slurred making it hard to communicate.
“Only after many years and a slow recovery, I was finally able to go back to school in 2012 to complete my education.”
It would not have been possible, he emphasised, without the support of the school’s executives and staff members, alongside his parents and siblings.
“They never gave up on me,” he said. “I graduated as an electrical engineering student from high school and went to study business at university.
“The teachers kept me focused until the bitter end, no matter how hard or how difficult it got for me.
“I realised some time later, how every human suffers from something or other, that’s just how life works out. Every person has a place in this world, and no disability or accident should be allowed to prevent us from reaching our true potential … we just may need a little help on the way.”
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