The organisations of persons with disabilities in Ecuador share the advances on inclusive education made in the framework of the project

The advances of Bridging the Gap project in Ecuador were shared yesterday at an event celebrated in Quito and organised by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), implementation partner of the Project within the country. The meeting, attended by nearly 100 people, brought together European, Spanish and Ecuadorian authorities, development partners and organisations of persons with disabilities.

The event was open by the Deputy Minister of Educational Management in Ecuador, Francisco Cevallos, who highlighted the commitment of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Education with the educational inclusion of children with disabilities.

The opening remarks also included the words of the Ambassador of the European Union in Ecuador, Marianne Van Steen, the Ambassador of Spain in Ecuador, Carlos de Abella y Arístegui, and Gabriela Barahona on behalf of the National Council for the Equality of Persons with Disabilities (CONADIS). They all stressed the need to keep working together along with the organizations of persons with disabilities within the country to bridge the gaps in the access to and the permanence in the education system for children with disabilities in Ecuador. 

The institutional part of the event was followed by the presentation of the Bridging the Gap work both at the global and national level, and the advances in the work made by the organisations of persons with disabilities FENASEC (National Federation of the Deafs), FENCE (National Federation of the Visually Impaired), FENEDIF (National Federation of Ecuadorian with Physical Disability), and FEPAPDEM (Ecuadorian Federation for the Support to Persons with Intellectual Disability, Cerebral Palsy, Autism and Down Syndrome) to improve access to education of children with disabilities.

In Ecuador, Bridging the Gap works in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, CONADIS and the Ecuadorian organisations of persons with disabilities, to make the education system more inclusive through the monitoring of education policy indicators, exchange of experiences, inclusive educational materials, social awareness, and training of public employees in methodologies, techniques and easy-to-read tools and accessible formats for persons with disabilities.