Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 26 December (BelTA) - Children with special needs need more care and support, Chairman of the Council of the Republic Mikhail Myasnikovich told the media as he visited Minsk State College of Electronics to attend the event as part of the Our Children charity campaign, BelTA has learned.

“It is good that we have such a good tradition when we come visit children’s institutions on the New Year's Eve. In my opinion, it is especially heartening when we meet with children with special needs. I believe such children need twice as much attention and visits on the Knowledge Day, the New Year and not necessarily holidays,” Mikhail Myasnikovich noted.

During the visit to the college, the speaker of the upper house of Belarusian parliament talked to students, asked them how their education process is organized and how things are in everyday life. “They are surrounded by care of their teachers who give them not only new knowledge and skills that they will need in their future professional careers but also help them find their way in life,” Mikhail Myasnikovich said.

The center of vocational and social rehabilitation for persons with special needs, which makes part of the college, provides quality education, including vocational training, to children with disabilities. According to the chairman of the Council of the Republic, employers praise the students’ level of training in popular professions. Moreover, a lot of students of the college became winners of city and nationwide Olympiads.

“Higher education is an important thing, but the country also needs highly skilled workers and specialists with secondary special education. The College of Electronics meets these requirements,” Mikhail Myasnikovich said.

The center for vocational and social rehabilitation for persons with special needs is currently training 69 students, including seven persons with locomotory system impairments and 62 acoustically impaired people. Students are trained as a computer operator, a computer graphics operator, a home appliance adjuster, a mechanic, and a computer technician. In September 2019, there are plans to launch courses in the service of electronic computers for visually impaired persons. Over the past 12 years the center has trained more than 400 specialists.