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The line above is quoted
from Aamir Khan who played the role of Ram Shankar Nikumbh, an art teacher, in
the 2007 film “Every Child is Special.”
Every child is special.
Every child has his own set of skills and talents that he can develop and make
use of in the future. Even children with special disabilities have the right to
be educated in order discover these potentialities. This is the vision of the
special education program of Tugbok Central Elementary School SPED Center or
TCES SPED Center.
Before the SPED program
was recognized in 2002, Mrs. Elena Maxey, a teacher, had to make a proposal.
She was obliged to gather at least 10 students with special needs. She was able
to gather 20, which paved way to the establishment of the program.
“I started as a volunteer, which was difficult because I did not receive any salary. This went on for a year.” Mrs. Maxey recounted. It was only in 2003 when she received her first remuneration for teaching.
The SPED program caters to fast learners (FL), hearing impaired (HI), and children with autism (CWA), learning disability (LD) and intellectual disability (ID). There are 85 pupils, all from ages 4 to 25. 12 of them are part of the mainstream, which means they are permitted to join regular students in some subjects given that their quizzes, assignments and other activities are modified in keeping with their special needs. Mainstream pupils can also graduate and enrol in
a regular high school just like every regular student.
To showcase and develop the skills and talents of their pupils, the program holds fun day every Friday. The government also shows support by conducting citywide and nationwide Olympics specifically designed for children with special disabilities.
One of the challenges the SPED program experiences is the lack of teachers. At present there are only 3 teachers with special education degrees to give proper instruction to all pupils enrolled in the program: Mrs. Lydia Piamonte, who specializes in instructing the HI; Mrs. Marialus Dalagan, who is assigned to the CWA; and Mrs. Elena Maxey, who spearheads all the other categories.
“It’s difficult to focus on all these children when you have other stuff to do and when there are only a few of you to do the teaching,” said Mrs. Piamonte, who also teaches other subjects to regular students.
With the growing number of pupils, the program is also short of classrooms. They are maximizing the space of two classrooms by dividing them according to the different categories.
An additional classroom was being constructed three years ago but the construction discontinued because of financial problems.
The SPED program is in need of learning materials as well that will help improve the skills of its pupils. The school’s remote location, as it is situated in Tugbok District, makes it difficult and time-consuming to acquire these materials.
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