Recto bats for more funds for visually-impaired children

Senator Ralph Recto on Wednesday urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to allocate more funds for visually-impaired children to allow them to cope with children who have normal sight.

Citing statistics from the DepEd's Special Education Division (SED) of the Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE), Recto said there are 2,670 visually-impaired children whose learning is hindered not by their inability to read, but the lack of reading materials for the blind.

Recto said the DepEd should not turn a blind eye on the children with special needs like the visually-impaired.

The lawmaker from Batangas said the year 2007, which happened to be the Centennial Celebration of Special Education, should be the beginning of better times for children with special needs.

"Blindness is not a hindrance to learning. It's the failure of the officials in charge to see the problem," he said.

Recto said the state should promote the right of every individual to relevant quality education regardless of sex, age, creed, socio-economic status, physical and mental condition, social or ethnic origin, and political affiliation.

"Every child with special needs has a right to an educational program that is suitable to his needs. Special Education should be regarded as a priority area since the educational system is mandated to fulfill its duty to nurture children to develop their full potential," Recto stressed.

According to Recto, only 4.8 percent of the children with special needs are provided with the appropriate educational services by the government.

Children with special needs include, aside from the visually-impaired, are mentally-gifted or fast learners, children with disabilities such as learning disabled, hearing impaired, mentally retarded, children with behavior problem, those who are orthopadically-handicapped, autistic, speech defective, chronically ill and children with cerebral palsy.

Recto said there are only 2,149 schools offering programs for those with special needs four national special schools, 450 private special schools, 151 recognized Special Education Centers and 1,544 regular schools with programs for children with special needs.

"How can they be able to learn if the government doesn't see the problem themselves," he asked.