"Inclusive education equals full participation of persons with special needs." It's a mouthful, but that's the theme under which disabilities week was observed last week.
The week's done, but there are still events that carry over such as CARE Belize's poster competition. The contest asked school children to illustrate the theme with art work and in the end, there were some quite imaginative pieces. CARE's Director Dolores Godfrey says that the competition is geared at sensitizing school age children to disabilities.
Dolores Godfrey, CARE Belize
"This competition was to serve as an awareness in the classrooms about the needs that disabled persons have because many children with disabilities refuse to go to school because they are made fun of and therefore they rather stay at home and not participate. We want school children to be aware of this issue and we would like school children to treat disabled children with respect and dignity and treat them as they are."
First place was taken by Winnie Huang of Belmopan Primary School and second place by Dane Flowers of Faith Nazarene in Cayo. The winning schools will receive $500 and $100 respectively while the student receives a personal gift.