Global Action Week events in Palestine in 2014 over West Bank and Gaza

 The Palestinian Coalition implemented various events within GAW 2014 including:

Meeting with members of the Palestinian Legislative Council

A meeting was held between the coalition and members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, where the campaign is dedicated this year for educating persons with disabilities under the title of "equal rights, equal opportunities " which adopted the slogan "Schools harmonization until 2020" in Palestine. The Campaign was implemented over the West Bank and Gaza to achieve this goal by the end of the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Education until 2020. As a result of this meeting, the Board of legislation to form a monitoring committee to keep track of the implementation of laws and policies

Organizing a central demonstration on Tuesday 6/5/2014 in Ramallah city

Within the Global Action Week (GAW) 2014 the Palestinian Education Coalition in cooperation with the General Union of Palestinians with Disability organized a central demonstration on Tuesday 6/5/2014 in Ramallah city with participation of more than 300 persons with disability, students, and teachers, in addition to some members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and representatives of member organizations of the Coalition.

This demonstration is part of the national activities of GAW-2014 which is dedicated to supporting the right of persons with disability to education under the slogan "Equal Rights Equal Opportunity". In Palestine, the campaign highlighted specific message in demanding "inclusive educational environment by 2020".

Workshop on "Disability Issues: a Rights-based and Development Perspective" in Nablus

Within GAW 2014 activities implemented in Palestine by the Palestinian Education Coalition in partnership with the Generual Union of Palestinians with Disability and UNRWA and MoEHE and national organizations working in the disability sector, the Mothers’ School Society implemented a workshop on disability issues from a rights-based and developmental perspective in Beit Foreek village (Nablus). Around 50 mothers of children with disability, teachers, educational administration staff and representatives of local CBOs participated in the workshop which took place on 5/5/2014.

Mrs. Nadia Shehadeh, Director of the Mothers’ School, presented in her opening speech the goals of the Global Campaign for Education, GAW and national activities in Palestine. Mrs. Mariam Shakhsheer, former Head of Special Education Department at Nablus Educational Directorate, presented a paper on education of children with disability in the Palestinian schools, including disabilities, types, diagnosis mechanisms, roles of families, schools and officials, inclusive policies and social attitudes. Mr.s Majeda Al-Masri, former Minister of Social Affairs, presented a paper on disability rights in Palestine including education, work, health and social welfare.

During the workshop, participants and speakers discussed the roles of society and decision makers in providing opportunities for persons with disability to engage in the society and participate in the public life. The participants discussed also the responsibility of the government to provide for all needs and inclusion requirements.  

  Poses for solidarity and support by Media institution in Gaza

Several media organizations, in Gaza, whether or satellite radio, Participated in the Global Campaign for Education as part of advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities and inclusive education through the organization of solidarity Poses by media organizations to confirm their support for the campaign

In cooperation with UNRWA, implementation of three youth-to-youth exchange and disability-sensitization events in West Bank

Teacher Creativity Center (TCC) and General Union of People with Disabilities (GUPWD) in cooperation with UNRWA WBGS implemented three youth-to-youth exchange and disability-sensitization events in West Bank. These activities were implemented as part of the Global Action Week activities that are taking place from 2-9/5/2014 in Palestine and more than 100 other countries around the world within the Global Campaign for Education for All. The campaign for this year is dedicated to supporting the right of persons with disability to education under the slogan “equal rights equal opportunitiesâ€‌. The GAW activities in Palestine are implemented every year by the Palestinian Education Coalition. Within the current campaign the coalition highlights one message for education: inclusive education environments by 2020. This includes proper teacher qualification, infrastructure accessibility, disability-sensitive and rights-based curriculum reform and community engagement and awareness.   

These workshops were organized in cooperation with UNRWA with participation of more than 650 refugee students with disabilities, their families, refugee non-disabled students, their families and UNRWA schools’ teachers and administrative staffs in Toulkarm, Hebron and Jericho. More than 250 of the participants were students with hearing, visual and physical disabilities and their families. The exchange activities that took place on 5th, 6th and 7th of May 2014 aimed at increasing awareness of the participants of disability from a developmental and rights-based perspective and to sensitize the students towards disability issues and requirements of inclusion in the learning environments and in society.

The exchange activities followed preparatory sessions with the targeted students in order to ensure a climate of inclusion within the activities were all students (with or without disabilities) can learn and appreciate the meaning of environmental accessibility and inclusion for persons with disability. The preparatory activities included also visits to the organizations working in the disability sector that were invited to participate in the events.

Each of the 6-hour exchange activities included educational and recreational sports and games aimed at clarifying the meaning of environment inclusion. For example, some of the games that were implemented consisted of football with wheel chairs and races with eye-blinds for students with disabilities and others who don’t have disabilities. The events included also joint projects by students with disability and students who don’t have disability and families of students with disability and families of students who don’t have disability to build mini construction models that consider requirements of inclusion and accessibility for children with disability. At the final sessions of the exchange activities participants discussed the accomplished projects and to which extent they meet all requirements of inclusion. In addition, participant students and families were honored and symbolic gifts were distributed.      

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