CRRC-Armenia fellow Anna Sargsyan carried out a research and assessed the education level, learning needs and social issues of disabled children living in Yerevan and Hrazdan cities. She presented the results of her study on September 12, 2008 within CRRC Fellowship Program.

The research was conducted through interviews with the disabled, their parents, nurses and principals in schools, nurses in polyclinics, as well as representatives of non-governmental and governmental organizations dealing with the disabled. Results of the survey show that, for example, only 2% of the disabled children are not registered in any educational structure from the Hrazdan town region, but in the villages this indicator is 21%. Special or alternative education is extremely limited or unavailable for children with special needs because of the lack of special schools in the region.

Monitoring of home education for the disabled children showed that persons with disabilities are mostly from poor families causing additional hardships. Furthermore, families of youth with disabilities are not aware of their rights. The existing stigma and prejudice in the society: parents do not want their children ridiculed in public; school community, including teachers and parents are not ready to accept youth with special needs.

To read the paper in full, please visit CRRC-Armenia website.