Rector of the State University (UCG) Radmila Vojvodić and Executive Director of the Association of Disabled Youth of Montenegro (UMHCG) Marina Vujačić signed a Memorandum of Cooperation today, the goal of which is greater inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWD) in higher education.
Vujačić, at the round table "Higher education of PWDs and the role of UCG in inclusion", said that the numbers are increasing when it comes to the quantitative education of PWDs.
"We often hear that there are a large number of children and adults with disabilities who enroll in educational establishments and institutions every year. However, we cannot talk about education if we consider the qualitative aspect of education and the results achieved," she said.
Vujačić stated that, at the level of higher education in Montenegro, including freshmen, there are about 90 students, of which more than 50 are at UCG, and the majority at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, which, she added, is a significant improvement in relation to to the previous period.
"Inclusive education is either misunderstood or incorrectly applied in practice. I say this because inclusion is still characterized by the integration, and in some cases, the segregation of PWDs," said Vujačić.
As she stated, inclusive education made it possible to include children who otherwise would never have been included in the education process.
"But on the other hand, inclusive education did not adequately respond to the needs of everyone, so even today people with physical disabilities are not equal, on the contrary. Due to inaccessibility and physical barriers, they are often very excluded, especially from the higher education process," said Vujačić.
She warned that, according to accessibility standards, there is no completely adapted faculty at UCG.
"However, we can single out the Faculties of Law and Political Sciences and for Sports and Physical Education, which meet the basic elements of accessibility. "The Faculties of Philosophy and Economics are partially accessible, while the Technical Faculties complex has only a ramp at the entrance near the security fence, but these faculties are inaccessible inside," said Vujačić.
She pointed out that a major problem in all higher education institutions is the lack of literature for students with visual impairments, as well as the lack of sign language interpreters and other helpers for hearing-impaired students.
Vujacic believes that the Memorandum on Cooperation with UCG is an opportunity to turn that document into concrete initiatives in practice.
"I would not like these two parties to be left alone in the process, because I believe that all institutions must respond to it equally, above all the ministries of education and labor and social welfare," she said.
Vojvodić assessed that equalizing the opportunities of students with disabilities with other high school students at UCG and fully including them in the academic life of PWDs is a complex and delicate process.
"It requires systematic work, patience, synchronization of many social factors, stable financial support," she stated.
Vojvodić said that the removal of architectural barriers - access and within educational institutions, and barriers to the usability of literature for the visually impaired and blind is the first step in giving opportunities to PWDs.
"The memorandum of cooperation that we are signing with UMHCG specifies the scope of cooperation for this first step of conditions, standards and support for studying. It is an act of good will to intensify our cooperation and obliges us to achieve clear results - measurable by a better status and the inclusion of a larger number of students with disabilities in UCG studies," she said.
Anđela Dragović, a freshman at the UCG Faculty of Law, who is visually impaired, said that she completed the Legal and Administrative course at the Podgorica Resource Center, stating that she had all the teaching units there in Braille.
"I heard from former students that their biggest obstacle was the lack of textbooks, which did not discourage me from entering the university. I knew that it would be a difficult path, because the textbooks are quite voluminous. I expect that during my studies the situation will change for the better, because I consider the lack of literature to be one of my biggest obstacles," she said.
Gojko Samaržić, a senior student at the Faculty of Law of UCG, who has impaired eyesight, said that he enrolled at the university in 2006.
"In the beginning it was very difficult because of the inadequacy of the literature, but I was lucky because I had professors who were always misunderstandings for me, and that's how I finished my studies," he stated.
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