Bill to give more financial aid to children with special needs

CEBU, Philippines - Children with special needs will soon be given more government financial assistance as Senate Bill 3226 or the “Children with Special Needs Education Fund Act of 2012” was filed recently by Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano.

The proposed bill seeks to encourage synergy between local government units and the Department of Education (DepEd) to support special education centers and schools by directing the allocation of ten percent (10%) of the Special Education Fund for special education centers or schools.

Cayetano is also asking education officials from national and local government units, as well as corporations with corporate social responsibility programs, to allot more funds for Special Education for children with special needs.

He said that at least 10 to 13 percent of the country’s children population suffer from physical, mental, emotional, behavioral disabilities and yet there are only 155 special education centers with 1,176 teachers in the country effectively reaching a mere 3 percent or 168,858 students with special needs.

Valenzuela City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian, in a statement said that early detection on children’s disabilities can be best done during the early childhood education.

With this, he cited that day care workers play a very important role not only in the development of children’s character and well-being but also in detecting peculiarities among them.

An advocate of early childhood development, Gatchalian said parents and pre-school teachers are the best partners in ascertaining children’s aberrations.

He added that children’s disabilities will be cured if interventions are done in the early stages.

Cayetano further said that it is the obligation of the state to provide special nurturing for the education of children with special needs as they are equally entitled to the same free basic education guaranteed by the Constitution to children under regular school systems.

Senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona III has likewise vowed full support for the passage of the Early Years Act (Senate Bill No. 3206), principally authored by Sen. Edgardo Angara, citing that government should put its resources to the early childhood care and development (ECCD) because it is where the human capital will be built on.— (FREEMAN)