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Thank you to the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and Culture, led by its Chairman, Senator Win Gatchalian, who championed the rights and welfare of learners with disabilities by painstakingly holding consultations and collaboration with stakeholders towards the creation and approval in the Senate of the Senate Bill 1907 or Instituting Services for Learners with Disabilities (LWDs) in support of Inclusive Education Act”.
This was the statement of Professor Flora Arellano, President of the Civil Society Network for Education Reforms (E-Net Philippines), during the InkluNasyon (Inclusive Nation) weekly FB live program, a program conceptualized and hosted by persons with disabilities which is dedicated to raising awareness on issues and rights of persons with disabilities. Senator Win Gatchalian was the guest speaker yesterday, July 22, where he presented the salient points of the bill which aims to ensure equal opportunities and institute services for learners with disabilities.
“No child with a disability who wants to go to school will again be turned away or gets left behind. If the SB 1907 is passed, the inclusion policy will put the burden of readiness on the public and private schools to capacitate themselves to accept learners with disabilities; and they have five years from its passage to build and install the necessary facilities and resources to meet the learning needs of learners with disabilities, for them to thrive in inclusive learning environments,” said Senator Win Gatchalian, during the discussion where he answered questions sent by attendees who came from different groups of persons with disabilities.
If passed into law, the Senate Bill 1907 will make early and basic education accessible to learners with disabilities, help augment the support services they need and eliminate educational, physical and attitudinal barriers affecting their education.
“Aside from the school preparing themselves to accept learners with disabilities, the bill would also require each city and municipality to put up at least one Inclusive Learning Resource Center (ILRC) for learners with disabilities. All existing special education centers would then be converted into ILRCs that will provide additional free service to our learners,” explained d Gatchalian.
Gatchalian also shared that many of the concepts and ideas from which the Senate Bill was created upon was the product of a total of ten (10) Technical Working Group meetings and two (2) public hearings held with civil society and stakeholder groups such as the E-Net Philippines, Philippine Coalition for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), Philippine Federation of the Deaf, Philippine Foundation for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, Deaf Blind Support Philippines, NORFIL Foundation, among others.
“It is their contagious passion, these groups who gave their time, shared their experiences and expertise; and this helped the bill to propel forward. I am just a shepherd and I am very happy to serve our country,” added Gatchalian, who shared with attendees that his interest in the creation of the bill came from his personal experience where he had a close relative who was turned away from many schools because they do not have the facility to teach learners with disabilities.
The salient features of the bill mandates the institutionalization of the Child Find System, under which learners with disabilities are identified, located and evaluated so they can be included in the general basic education system; and an individualised education plan shall be designed, prepared and implemented for the specific needs of each learner. Likewise, hiring of a multi-disciplinary team for the ILRCs and in-school child development centers, composed of professionals, will be undertaken; and the maintenance of a learning information system. An Advisory Council for Education of Learners with Disabilities composed of representatives from various disability sectors and academe will also be created inside the Department of Education (DepEd) to help oversee the implementation of the proposed law through a multi-year roadmap of targets and outcomes.
Jun Bernandino, Lead Convener of the Philippine Coalition for the UNCRPD and Executive Director of Life Haven Center for Independent Living, said that, “We are grateful to Senator Gatchalian for allowing people with disabilities to be consulted and that they get to participate in policy-making. The bill has potential since it is very comprehensive due to the many inputs from various groups. We hope that we are consulted on issues that affect us, from education to transportation, and many more issues.”
“For all its intents and purposes, for me it is at 98%, the Senate Bill 1907 will be passed into law. This could be the first law in Southeast Asia that is attuned with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD),” said Gatchalian.