DepEd: SPED Enrollees Increase to More Than 5T

Over 5,300 students are now enrolled at the Special Education (SPED) program of the Department of Education (DepEd).

Ellen Delante, DepEd SPED focal person, said the number has increased from the previous 4,265 enrollees which include elementary, secondary, and senior high school students, for School Year 2017-2018 during the Talakayan sa PIA on July 16 at SM CDO Downtown Premier here.

“Ang Region 10 ga-cater for learners with special education need. Busa ang regular schools nag-open sa SPED (Region 10 caters to learners with a special education need. Thus, the regulars schools have opened SPED program),” Delante said as she elaborated that Deped is working on and looking forward to the policy approval on opening and training of SPED to all schools.

Delante stressed the opening of SPED program in regular schools, involvement of parents and accessibility of such program even to marginalized families, have contributed to the increase of enrollees this year.

Teachers, especially in the mainstream, were also trained to handle children with special needs.

“Hopefully next year mag-mass training na sa regular teachers para andam mudawat sa mga kabataan nga PWDs nga musulod sa mga classroom (Hopefully next year there will be a mass training for regular teachers so they can readily accommodate PWD children who will attend classes),” Delante added.

The SPED focal person also noted the change of behavior among parents towards educating their children with special needs.

“Nakita na sa parents nga (The parents now see that) the kids are capable of learning and can be productive citizens in this country,” she said.

With the theme “Kakayahan at Kasanayan Para sa Kabuhayan Tungo sa Kaunlaran,” Delante said the 40th celebration of the National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation (NDPR) week serve as a guiding principle to all educators and advocates of the rights of PWDs to continue on strengthening the learning programs for the sector, and later on reap the fruits of having an inclusive form of government. (RTP/PIA10)