1 / 4

On the initiative of the RA NA Standing Committees on Health Care, Maternity and Childhood and on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport on December 11 parliamentary hearings on the theme “Protection of Children With Disabilities in Armenia. ”

The Chairman of the RA NA Standing Committees on Health Care, Maternity and Childhood Ara Babloyan in the opening speech of the first sitting of the hearings stressed the shortcomings in the sphere services being rendered to the children with disabilities and their families, the expecting improvements. He especially highlighted the early revelation of the problems and intervention, the effective organization of the educational programmes with the parents of the children with disabilities and the psycho-social support. There are 8.000 officially registered children with disabilities, who, according to official statistics, make 1% of the whole children’s population. In the Committee Chairman’s word, the state and public circles with joint efforts should improve the social conditions of the children with special needs and the services being rendered to them.

The RA Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan in his speech noted that Armneia had registered considerable progress in the sphere of education of children with disabilities. In his word, similar hearings, discussions become frequent and after them the practical steps are also evident. According to the Minister of Education and Science, the problems of children with disabilities today are one of the agenda items of the state instances and NGOs. As the Minister noted, the experience of Armenia in the sphere of turning into inclusive education had caused big interest in the CIS countries and served an example.

By the RA National Assembly President’s order, in the parliament “A Working Group of Protection of the Rights of Child in Armenia,” members of which NA deputies Heghine Bisharyan, Lyudmila Sargsyan, Karine Poghosyan in their speeches highlighted the improvement of the revelation of the child’s disabilities and the procedures of the need assessment of its special conditions, the consistency of the works being implemented in the direction of protection of the rights of children of disabilities.

The representative of the Association of the NGOs of the Protection of the Interests of the Persons with Disabilities Arman Musheghyan presented the accumulated experience of the NGOs.

According to the agreement reached during the visiting sitting of the RA NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport held in Shushi in November, deputies from Artsakh, particularly, the Chairman of the NKR NA Standing Committee on Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Armen Sargsyan, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee on Production and Productive Substructures Kamo Barseghyan and the Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee on Social Affairs and Health Care Aram Grigoryan were attending the parliamentary hearings.

In Armen Sargsyan’s word, the society in Artsakh is very sensitive towards the children with disabilities, especially, that part of them has gained disability because of war. He stressed the circumstance that in Artsakh all the children with problems live in families. He also noted that the experience of the legislative reforms being implemented in this sphere would also be invested in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

Opening the second sitting of the hearings the Chairman of the RA NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Artak Davtyan stressed that the reforms discussed in all directions were realistic, and we should take practical steps for creating favourable and accessible atmosphere necessary for regular life of the child with disabilities.

The Deputy Mayor Kamo Areyan presented the works being implemented in this in Yerevan.

During the question and answer session, speeches the participants of the parliamentary hearings expressed readiness of continuously cooperating, stressing the importance of such discussions and having success in terms of solving the problems step by step.