The right to education belongs to those who need it, to any human individual irrespective of race, gender, age or disability. Cognizant of people’s differences, Centro Escolar University has been one of the few universities that offer learning opportunities for students with disability/disabilities in a regular education classroom.
It was in 1995 when CEU started the practice of inclusion to promote the Salamanca statement on Principles, Policy and Practice in Special Needs Education which “reaffirms the right to education of every individual, as enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and renewing the pledge made by the world community at the 1990 World Conference on Education for All to ensure that right for all regardless of individual differences”.
The CEU Inclusion Program was proposed by Ms. Romina Bautista, who is the Head of the Inclusion Program, with the assistance of Dr. Teresita Carey, former School of Education, Liberal Arts, Music and Social Work (SELAMS) Dean, and under the consultation of Dr. Maria Rita Lucas, present SELAMS Dean, and Ms. Nancy Pascual, former SELAMS faculty. All these great minds collaborated to establish this kind of program to attend to the special needs of students.
“It was an answer to provide more support services to students with disabilities who are already part of the CEU community and for future Escolarians”, said Ms. Bautista.
Handling students with special needs can be crucial and challenging. So together with the Schools, a committee comprised of the program heads and deans was formed to monitor the progress of the students with disability/disabilities. The teachers are also given trainings on the right academic and emotional approach to this kind of students in an actual classroom scenario. There are also teams formed for each of the student.
“If I have 20 students, I have 20 teams. Each student would have a team composed of teachers who give feedback and my job is to incorporate them”, added Ms. Bautista.
The parents and other family members also play a very important role in the lives of these students, so they are also trained on how they can properly deal with their children with disability/disabilities.
Aside from the trainings, different programs and activities are also held to help the students develop sense of belongingness. Every year, they also have a celebration of the Inclusive Schools Week. They even attend leadership summits and seminars for inclusive education.
As a caring University, CEU affirms its commitment to understand and accept individual differences by strengthening its support services for students with disabilities.
“If you are a student with disability and you want to pursue a college degree, try it in CEU. We are open and we are here to walk with you so that you can be a better version of yourself”, Ms. Bautista said.
For more information about the CEU Inclusion Program, please call (02) 8-735-6861 loc. 314 or visit the official website of the University at www.ceu.edu.ph. You may also follow CEU on Facebook at www.facebook.com/theCEUofficial and on Twitter at @CEUmanila, @CEU_makati05, and @CEUmalolos.