Sharm El-Shiekh- President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi allocated EGP 500m from the Tahya Masr Fund to support the integration of children with disabilities into mainstream schools.
It came as Al-Sisi inaugurated the first Arab Forum for Schools for Special Needs and Integration held Monday night in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. The event is part of the ‘Special Needs Year’ initiative that was announced by the president in April 2017.
Al-Sisi also tasked the ministry of defence with the construction of a special innovation centre, to develop the skills of special needs persons, after the Minister of Education Tarek Shawki said in his remarks that more trained cadres are needed to develop the skills of persons with special needs.
Al-Sisi said that the people with special needs account for 10-12% of Egypt’s population, estimated at 104 million, which means that there are about 10 million Egyptian families with at least one person with special needs. He stressed that the state must integrate them with other people to benefit from their great capabilities.
Al-Sisi noted that the government has allocated 5% of the social housing projects for people with special needs, besides providing 5,000 job opportunities in the state’s administrative system.
According to Article 81 of Egypt’s Constitution, the state must provide job opportunities for individuals with disabilities, and allocate a percentage of jobs to them, as well as equip public facilities and the surrounding environment to cater to persons with special needs.
