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 position within the subject 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 strong device for social change; they foster neighborhood, promote inclusion, and empower athletes. Sports activities, together with training, are a basic device for growth, particularly for folks with mental and developmental disabilities. As we method the Latin American Regional Video games, it’s alternative to replicate on the vital significance of each.
Within the area, folks 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 Colleges (US) and Unified Champion Colleges (UCS) applications. Supported by Particular Olympics—a worldwide motion that seeks to finish discrimination in opposition to folks with mental and developmental disabilities—these facilities provide alternatives for younger folks, each with and with out mental disabilities, to study from one another and construct friendships that transcend variations by sports activities competitions, golf equipment, and actions involving your entire faculty neighborhood.
In April 2024, Paraguay grew to become the primary South American nation to affix 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 Colleges” program, which gives sports activities and cultural actions to 11,000 college students in 150 colleges on weekends, selling equal instructional alternatives. Paraguay goals to increase this program to 200 colleges this yr, with even higher enlargement plans for the longer term.
One of the vital notable examples is in Chaco, the place the “Open Colleges” program has launched actions equivalent to music lessons, which have 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 direction of actual inclusion happens.
Colleges are additionally basic facilities for selling inclusive sports activities equivalent to bodily training and sports activities golf equipment, which strengthen inclusion and enrich the educational atmosphere. Whereas they are often underestimated, sports activities are a strong instructional device 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 subject. 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 academic system, making Paraguay a mannequin of inclusion with a worldwide influence. We’re constructing a social infrastructure that fosters actually inclusive attitudes, as we all know that creating inclusive instructional methods is commonly cost-effective and solely requires minimal changes to accommodate all college students, in response to 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 position on this motion in 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 ability and potential of inclusive sports activities and training represented by the Particular Olympics athletes. You’ll witness inclusion firsthand.