MANILA, Philippines — P3PWD party-list first nominee Rowena Guanzon on Sunday urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to provide more learning gadgets for Special Education (SPED) learners.
In her speech after she filed the Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance of the P3PWD party-list, Guanzon said her group would push for the improvement of the SPED program should it win a seat in the House of Representatives in the 2025 polls.
According to Guanzon, a former Commission on Elections commissioner, technology can make children with disabilities “learn faster.”
“For example, for visually impaired children, we used to teach them how to read braille. We still teach them to read braille,” Guanzon said after she filed the Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance of the P3PWD party-list.
“In the future, they will be able to see colors by using technology so what we really need now and ask the secretary of the Department of Education is that they should have laptops, they should have notebooks,” she added.
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Guanzon also said “teachers and parents are always complaining that there are not enough teachers in SPED” so the number of teaching assistants for the program should be increased.
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READ: Zero budget for special education in 2023 makes SPED law ‘meaningless’
In March 2022, former president Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act No. 11650, or the Instituting a Policy of Inclusion and Services for Learners with Disabilities in Support of Inclusive Education Act.
The law mandates all public and private schools to ensure equitable access to education for every student with a disability.
READ: COA: Only 192 of 6,379 classrooms constructed under VP Sara