17/10/2014
On the 17 th of October, 2014, was held and successfully conducted an International Conference on Social and educational inclusion and cohesion - theory and practice perspectives. The event was organized by the Macedonian Scientific Society ( MSS ) . The P resident of M SS , our friend and partner, Professor. Dr. Igor Nedelkovski and the Secretary Assoc. Dr. Sasho Kochankovski, took on the burden along with other members of the organizing committee of this important event in which participa ted guests from Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Switzerland, Slovenia and Greece. M ost of the participants were from Bitola and Skopje, colleges, schools, special schools, institutions, civic organizations and others.
The composition of the speakers included professors, doctors and masters of science and long experienced practitioners who shared their experience about the only common goal - rightful inclusion of disabled people, which will not be tainted with bias and lack of experience in creating goals and "Mobility Bitola" actively participated in the work. Emphasis was placed on the process of inclusion and varied experiences in all states. Several paper s outlined the negative impact of inclusion at all costs, and the necessity of the existence of special schools where the pr o ces s of education must be conceptualized and practically separated for each individual. Also, there was discussion about the existence of institutions for accommodation and slowing or reviewing the Deinstitutionalisation principle at all costs immediately. There were also p resent ed the official data of severe consequences of blind implementation of the principle (Italy).
Of special interest for us was the labor of Assoc. Dr. Sasho Kochankovski, who spoke for inclusion in the comparative analysis in primary and secondary schools in Bitola. The worrying fact is that only 17% of children with disabilities are deployed or categorized. Another striking finding is that physical disability in elementary education represents 5% versus 33% of those with mental disability , 2% deaf and 5% blind or partially sighted. The larger part (40%) are persons with learning difficulties. Then, in high school the percent of persons with physical disabilities is 23%, and those with poor learning are reduced to 14%. The methodology of the survey was conducted anonymously on 1995 respondents. This data fuel led our interest to make scientific project with MSS and the municipality.
This conference contributed to create a critical mass for joint action in the multi-stakeholder process, which until now cooperated institutional y or non-institutional y , but now with shared solutions and elaborated and scientifically substantiated guidelines . We hope that this contribution will bring progress in the overall process of implement ation .
