Última Hora
October 2, 2024
Luis Ramírez, Minister of Schooling and Tradition, Paraguay
César Ramírez, Minister of Sports activities, Paraguay
Claudia Echeverry, President and Director, Particular Olympics Latin America
Paraguay is enjoying a pivotal function within the subject of inclusion within the area. As an indication of this dedication, from October 4 to 12, Asunción will host greater than 1,000 athletes from throughout the hemisphere to compete within the IV Latin American Particular Olympics Video games, sponsored by the state. It has been recognized for many years that sports activities are a strong device for social change; they foster group, promote inclusion, and empower athletes. Sports activities, together with schooling, are a elementary device for growth, particularly for individuals with mental and developmental disabilities. As we method the Latin American Regional Video games, it’s alternative to replicate on the crucial significance of each.
Within the area, individuals with mental disabilities face obstacles in acquiring a good and equitable schooling. In Latin America and the Caribbean, solely 16% of nations have inclusive schooling legal guidelines, whereas 42% nonetheless promote segregation.
Paraguay is on the forefront with the Unified Faculties (US) and Unified Champion Faculties (UCS) applications. Supported by Particular Olympics—a worldwide motion that seeks to finish discrimination in opposition to individuals with mental and developmental disabilities—these facilities provide alternatives for younger individuals, each with and with out mental disabilities, to be taught from one another and construct friendships that transcend variations by way of sports activities competitions, golf equipment, and actions involving the complete college group.
In April 2024, Paraguay grew to become the primary South American nation to hitch the Particular Olympics International Management Coalition for Inclusion, committing to making sure inclusive instructional areas and coaching lecturers on the topic. This dedication relies on the success of the “Open Faculties” program, which presents sports activities and cultural actions to 11,000 college students in 150 colleges on weekends, selling equal instructional alternatives. Paraguay goals to increase this program to 200 colleges this 12 months, with even better growth plans for the longer term.
Probably the most notable examples is in Chaco, the place the “Open Faculties” program has launched actions akin to music courses, which have been beforehand inaccessible to college students in resource-limited communities. It’s in our native communities the place perceptions start to alter and the place the transformation in direction of actual inclusion happens.
Faculties are additionally elementary facilities for selling inclusive sports activities akin to bodily schooling and sports activities golf equipment, which strengthen inclusion and enrich the training surroundings. Whereas they are often underestimated, sports activities are a strong instructional device that promotes inclusion and adjustments attitudes.
Thus, the nation is working collaboratively from the Ministries of Schooling and Sports activities with a shared imaginative and prescient of inclusion, each within the classroom and on the enjoying subject. That is unprecedented. And this collaboration between ministries and Particular Olympics has demonstrated the worth of sports activities as a driver of change in our academic system, making Paraguay a mannequin of inclusion with a worldwide impression. We’re constructing a social infrastructure that fosters really inclusive attitudes, as we all know that creating inclusive instructional techniques is commonly cost-effective and solely requires minimal changes to accommodate all college students, in response to UNESCO.
We’re proud that Latin America is a middle of inclusion the place change occurs each day, and much more in order that Paraguay performs a central function on this motion in direction of a extra inclusive society, acknowledged globally.
We invite you to assist and be a part of the Latin American Video games in Asunción, to witness the facility and potential of inclusive sports activities and schooling represented by the Particular Olympics athletes. You’ll witness inclusion firsthand.
