Feb 24, 2019, The Jordan Times: Children with disabilities being left behind in Jordan — Prince Mired ‘Almost all’ schools in Kingdom ill-equipped for inclusive education http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/children-disabilities-being-left-behind-jordan-%E2%80%94-prince-mired AMMAN — Children with disabilities are entitled to education like any other child; however, thousands of children in Jordan are deprived of this right, said HRH Prince Mired, president of Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (HCD). …
Prince Mired told The Jordan Times in a recent interview that since children with disabilities are excluded from the general education system, the majority (85 per cent-95 per cent) are being educated in isolation from the community, if they receive education at all. … There are almost 500,000 children with disabilities under the age of 18 in Jordan and, by law, all Jordanian children should have access to education free from discrimination, Prince Mired said. … There remains a large gap between policy and practice, he added, and called on all parties concerned to engage in serious and sincere steps to apply the law and provide disabled children with their rights. According to a World Health Organisation report from 2011, disabilities are present in every race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age and religion; 15 per cent of the world’s population has some sort of disability. This includes an estimated 150 million children with 80 per cent of these children living in the developing world. … “Unfortunately almost all of our governmental and private schools are not equipped for inclusive education; almost all lack school structure, designed curricula and teachers’ training,” Prince Mired stated…. “We have 330 students from different countries including Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Canada, the US, Brazil and Germany. The disabled students make up 15 per cent of our total students,” Nimat said….