Cairo Univ. gives priority to care for students with special needs: Cairo Univ. president

CAIRO - 3 December 2019: On the occasion of the World Day for People with Disabilities, Mohamed Othman al-Khesht, president of Cairo University, congratulated on Tuesday university students with special needs.

Khesht stressed that Cairo University attaches great importance to the file of students with special needs and gives them all the care and attention as a class capable of production, with a great will to work and achieve.

Khesht told Egypt Today that Cairo University has taken many steps to support people with special needs, as it was decided that students with special needs have the right to attend any faculty that suits their circumstances and represent their faculty at the University Students Union.

The president of Cairo University said that the university has launched an initiative to integrate people with special needs in the community. The initiative included many activities such as a training course teaching sign language for university staff and students in the Faculty of Physical Therapy.

Khesht said that Cairo University called on the new Students Union to prioritize the demands of people with special needs to provide a safe environment for them inside the university. It was decided to abolish the term "Mongolian" from all courses at the university.

Khest added that a special unit for people with special needs has been established and is responsible for facilitating the educational process for students with disabilities.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Mahmoud Tawfik has issued orders on Dec. 2 to allow persons with disabilities to obtain national identity cards, travel documents, and work permits free of charge, for one week starting Dec. 3.

Tawfik's decision came ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, celebrated worldwide on December 3.It also comes within the framework of the ministry's strategy to activate the police's social and humanitarian role.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Interior has been keen to hold courses for officers in police stations to learn sign language in coordination with the Special Union for the Deaf and People with Hearing Impairment.

The training aims to teach ways to deal with the distress of the deaf, mute and people with hearing impairment as an important part of the community that deserves to receive the services provided by the Ministry of Interior.



In the same context, the Ministry of Social Solidarity launched in October an initiative to employ people with disabilities, in cooperation with a private company.

The initiative, dubbed "Hayah Gadida" (New Life), comes as part of national efforts to expand the social protection umbrella for people with special needs, providing monthly cash assistance or providing them with job opportunities.

The Ministry of Manpower and Immigration appointed on September 1,777 youths, including 21 with special needs, according to a statement issued by the ministry.

Earlier In the same month, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli inaugurated a rehabilitation center for people with special needs, established by the Ministry of Interior, in the 10th of Ramdan City.

Moreover, in December 2018 President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi allocated LE 80 million ($4.46 million) of the country's Tahya Misr Fund to support of people with special needs.

The president made the announcement while attending a celebration marking the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. "People with special needs in Egypt represent 9-10 percent of the total population," Sisi said.

Sisi also announced in 2018 establishing a technical center for services for disabled persons, to be the first of its kind in Africa.

The center is set to enable people with hearing or speech related disability to use technology to communicate through mobile phones.

During the inauguration of the Seventh International Conference on Information Technology Convergence and Services for People with Disabilities (ICT4PwDs), Sisi announced establishing an initiative that aims to enable disabled people to get services and information introduced by online websites of governmental institutions.