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 taking part in a pivotal function within the discipline 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 robust instrument for social change; they foster group, promote inclusion, and empower athletes. Sports activities, together with training, are a basic instrument for improvement, particularly for individuals with mental and developmental disabilities. As we strategy the Latin American Regional Video games, it’s alternative to mirror on the crucial significance of each.
Within the area, individuals with mental disabilities face obstacles in acquiring a good and equitable training. In Latin America and the Caribbean, solely 16% of nations have inclusive training legal guidelines, whereas 42% nonetheless promote segregation.
Paraguay is on the forefront with the Unified Faculties (US) and Unified Champion Faculties (UCS) packages. Supported by Particular Olympics—a worldwide motion that seeks to finish discrimination towards individuals with mental and developmental disabilities—these facilities supply alternatives for younger individuals, each with and with out mental disabilities, to be taught from one another and construct friendships that transcend variations by means of sports activities competitions, golf equipment, and actions involving your complete faculty group.
In April 2024, Paraguay grew to become the primary South American nation to hitch the Particular Olympics World 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 gives sports activities and cultural actions to 11,000 college students in 150 faculties on weekends, selling equal instructional alternatives. Paraguay goals to develop this program to 200 faculties this 12 months, with even larger growth plans for the long run.
One of the notable examples is in Chaco, the place the “Open Faculties” program has launched actions comparable to music lessons, which had been beforehand inaccessible to college students in resource-limited communities. It’s in our native communities the place perceptions start to vary and the place the transformation in the direction of actual inclusion happens.
Faculties are additionally basic facilities for selling inclusive sports activities comparable to bodily training and sports activities golf equipment, which strengthen inclusion and enrich the training surroundings. Whereas they are often underestimated, sports activities are a robust instructional instrument 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 taking part in discipline. 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 instructional system, making Paraguay a mannequin of inclusion with a worldwide affect. We’re constructing a social infrastructure that fosters really inclusive attitudes, as we all know that creating inclusive instructional programs is usually cost-effective and solely requires minimal changes to accommodate all college students, in keeping with UNESCO.
We’re proud that Latin America is a middle of inclusion the place change occurs every day, and much more in order that Paraguay performs a central function on this motion in the direction of a extra inclusive society, acknowledged globally.
We invite you to help and be a part of the Latin American Video games in Asunción, to witness the facility and potential of inclusive sports activities and training represented by the Particular Olympics athletes. You’ll witness inclusion firsthand.
