DUSHANBE, February 24, 2015, Asia-Plus -- Association for Aid and Relief, Japan (AAR Japan) begins a year project on inclusive education for children with disabilities in Dushanbe with financial assistance from the Japanese government.

AAR Japan Office in Tajikistan says that to commemorate this occasion, Embassy of Japan in Dushanbe hosted the signing ceremony on February 24.  Mr. Takashi Kamada, Ambassador of Japan to Tajikistan, representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science, Dushanbe Education City Department, partner organizations, and partner schools observed the ceremony.

Through the close cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science and Dushanbe Education Department, AAR reportedly aims to support the current efforts of the Tajik Government for inclusive education, defined in the “National Conceptual Framework for the Inclusive Education of Children with Disabilities in the Republic of Tajikistan for the period from 2011 to 2015”.

In this project, AAR Japan will install handrails, wheelchair ramps, and renovate bathrooms in the school buildings of School No 53 and School No 54 of Dushanbe in order to enhance the accessibility for students with disabilities.  Besides the barrier free renovations, wheelchairs, assistive devices, and educational materials will be provided to the resource classrooms allocated by those two schools.  To strengthen the capacity of the human resources for inclusive education and encourage the inclusion of students with disabilities at mainstream schools, seminars, trainings, and awareness raising activities will be conducted.

This project will be the second of the three phases that AAR implements for inclusive education. School No 28 and School No 72 of Dushanbe from the previous project will continue working with AAR as leading schools of inclusive education in Tajikistan.