The Zagazig University has recently installed blind walkers across its campus, in an initiative that aims to enhance accessibility for visually impaired students.
It has this become the first public university in Egypt to implement such facilities for the visually impaired.
The initiative is part of efforts made by the Ataa Charitable Investment Fund to support individuals with disabilities, focusing on creating an inclusive environment in Egypt’s public universities.
It’s also part of other pioneering moves the state has taken over the recent years to empower students with disabilities, offering them necessary support and a conducive learning environment.
According to a study published by the State-run Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), only 5.6 percent of students with disabilities obtain a university degree.
This is likely to change and those students are expected to have better opportunities to complete university education thanks to assistive academic tools across the disability centres established in public universities.
Over the past three years, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research opened seven disability centres at the public universities of Ain Shams, Cairo, Mansoura, Luxor, Alexandria Assiut, and the New Valley, with the noble aim of empowering students with disabilities.
Minister of Higher Education Ayman Ashour referred to a plan aiming to establish 15 disability centres in public universities nationwide.
“These centres help ensure inclusive and equal access to higher education for persons with disabilities through providing them with all the facilities that suit their needs,” the Minister said.
The centres are a joint initiative between Egypt’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and USAID-funded Public University Scholarships Programme,
They are administered by AMIDEAST, a non-profit organisation that supports education and development activities in the Middle East and North Africa, in collaboration with the Helm (Dream) Foundation for Training and Consulting; a non-profit organisation that aims to promote full inclusion of persons with disabilities in all domains of life.
Egypt has around 12 million people with different disabilities, Ashour added, noting that the state is keen to provide them with full rights, in accordance with the Egyptian Constitution and law.
Article 81 of Egypt’s 2014 constitution states: “The State shall guarantee the health, economic, social, cultural, entertainment, sporting and educational rights of persons with disabilities, strive to provide them with job opportunities, allocate a percentage of job opportunities to them, and adapt public facilities and their surrounding environment to their special needs.”
In February 2018, Egypt passed the Law on the Right of Persons with Disabilities that provides a wide range of legal rights and protections for disabled people and requires for the first time that educational institutions adopt policies that ensure equal opportunities for disabled students.
Dr Rania el-Hilali, director of the disability centre at Ain Shams University, said the new centres come in response to the Law on the Right of Persons with Disabilities as they work on identifying the deficiencies and challenges facing students with disabilities to improve their educational environment and ensure that they receive a quality academic education.
“TheAin Shams centre seeks to promote inclusive education for students with disabilities by offering a set of integrated services, which include providing sign language interpreters within lectures or any activity within the university, providing escorts and alternative texts such as printing materials in Braille,” el-Hilali said.
“This is in addition to facilitating examinations as saving additional time, converting the exam to electronic, special committees and others in proportion to each student and in coordination with the professor of the subject,” she added.
The centre, el-Hilali further noted, provides training for employees, faculty staff and students to raise awareness about disability and remove barriers to the integration of students with disabilities.
“It also aims to boost the morale for students with special needs through psychological support sessions and referring students whose health or psychological condition needs specialist doctors to the university hospital.”
